


Sword Art Online: Special Edition

by MF217



Series: Citadel of the Heart [4]
Category: Original Work, Sword Art Online
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Characterization Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angels vs. Demons, Artificial life-form(s), Blood and Injury, Decoy Protagonist(s), Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Female Protagonist, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Gen, Government Conspiracy, MMORPGs, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Other, Smoking, Stealth Crossover, Teen Romance, Video Game Mechanics, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:14:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9800360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MF217/pseuds/MF217
Summary: Re-uploaded from Fanfiction.net for its planned uncut release; the version you're reading here is Explicit rated, but if you want the story in its SFW release, check out Fanfiction.net under the user Chronicle-King. PM me if you can't find me and I'll give you the link directly.In the 2010s, Virtual Reality gaming was beginning to look more fruitful than it did in the failed attempts in the past. With the newly released, fifth generation VR hardware called the MaterialEye beginning to be sold with the first game compatible to mark the 7th Anniversary of the successful Sword Art Online. Kirigaya Suguha, one of the first of her group of friends and family to acquire the hardware, begins her first, clean slate run of Sword Art Online with the MaterialEye. With this strange hardware, there is much more to it than a simple headset; multiple pieces of the gear are attached to various parts of the body, allowing for one to effectively "materialize" into the virtual world they go into. However, there is a much bigger secret to the MaterialEye than one would initially learn of...





	1. Prologue: Welcome to Sword Art Online

**Author's Note:**

> (Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit fan fiction for Sword Art Online. I do not own Sword Art Online nor do I own any of the characters aside from original characters I have created solely for this story. Likewise, the names and or characterization of canon characters may or may not have been altered for the purpose of this fan fiction, but that does not mean I necessarily own them nor does that automatically make them original characters as well. The property of Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, which in turn is distributed by ASCII Media Works, Dengeki Bunko, and Yen Press. Please support the official works.)

Most people who play Massively Multiplayer Online games do so through the use of a combination of a keyboard and mouse, a gaming controller specifically built for the job, and a monitor which connects directly into a personal computer. Often times the prices for the computers alone make the price of the games in question minuscule in comparison.

The hardware needed for a currently being tested feature to an ongoing MMO of nearly 8 years, however, is something new altogether. Many would not think the fifth time in which such hardware was attempted to be created for a game of this scale would not work, but now it exists; the MaterialEye, the first ever success in creating an experience between real life players and virtual media all the more enticing than in the decades prior.

The MaterialEye is a special headwear the covers the eyes and ears in a halo-like structure, using a wireless connection to a nearby internet provider to connect to a game built with it in mind. The experience, according to the developers, has proven to be more groundbreaking than their attempts prior that led up to the conception of what they would refer to as their "special child". The founder of the project, Kayaba Akihiko, was breath taken by the beauty of what he had seen before him.

As a result of his success, many VIP purchasers of the hardware who had helped generate funding for it were given a first encounter with the first game to be fully compatible with it upon full release to the public; being as costly as the gaming PCs required to run this game to maximum graphical settings, however, only a very small number of these individual gamers exist. The first shipments of the device caused an unexpected delay in supply because of the surprising demand the MaterialEye had in the market all across the globe.

Kayaba Rinko, who we have gathered today in her office for this interview had a surprising amount to say regarding the creation of this device and its success just as week one of release has begun. Rinko-sama, if you may elaborate a bit more on the game you've designed this hardware to be used for, what do you have to say on the matter?

…

… Things were not going well in this meeting, the reporter was seeing. In the midst of the office, the reporter kept a cheerful, yet stoic, attitude, but couldn't help but feel an absolutely foreboding presence in the area. She didn't know fully what it was, or why it even unnerved the woman before, but when Rinko finally decided to speak up, it was only after the alarms began to blare.

[Warning. AI breach in the facility. Threat Level: 9. Warning.]

"Run…"

"Rinko-sama! What's going on?!" The reporter asked in a hurry, since now the alarm was beginning to blare at a more urgent intensity; an explosion could be heard shaking the entire facility, knocking the reporter off balance as Rinko moved to stand and walk outside of the room towards the corridor, where multiple security guards were rushing towards in a panic.

"It is nothing you'll believe right off of the bat; all that matters is that you survive the ordeal to report about anything that happens to us directly involved." Rinko spoke towards the reporter, as another, larger explosion could be heard all of a sudden with a tremendous force unheard of for whatever must've been breaking through the system from within.

[Warning. AI breaching the outer wall of the facility. Threat Level: 3. Report all personal to the quarantine zone immediately; all armed staff proceed to the impact zone. Warning.]

The alarm continued to blare as the reporter finally got to her feet, as the whole experience as to what this alarm was referring to only added to the foreboding nature the reporter had already felt. As the reporter followed herself out, she was instructed by a passing guard as to where to flee towards; the guard helping to get her through to safety, what could be heard was a loud, echoing, ungodly shriek of terror from the wall of the building just below the corridor the two were moving through.

As something very large and powerful could be heard colliding with the wall below, the shrieks being heard were only further continued in intensity before move the reporter and the guard were at the emergency exit of the building. Before the reporter could say anything, the guard shut her into the elevator and secured the spot shut all the while panting heavily; a very clear wound could be seen on his vest at this point.

"Listen, I don't know who you are among the various reporters we've seen, since that isn't my job to know; that your job and the job of the public to know that none of us from this screw are going to make it out of this facility alive. Since none of us will possibly survive that monstrosity in the floor below, the public has every right to know! Tell them everything if asked and hurry!" The guard spoke to the woman, as soon a security lock was undone on the whole elevator; causing it remove itself from the building and fly outwards from the building as a separate vehicle to heads to the nearest city much further away from here.

[Warning. All security offline during AI breach. Threat Level: 1. War-]

The alarm cut to nothing but static before it could finish those words; as whatever was making the noise was beginning to quiet down, the guard remained alert when he heard footsteps heading his way, as well as the groans of a man trying to follow it. The guard turned to face the way of a child-like entity that was facing the man so quickly, now having a sword-like object wielded in its left hand. The man, having been told of what the being was capable of, simply raised his large shield and advanced towards the being as the being approached with the sword-like weapon in hand, ready to strike.

_**Three months later…** _

"Come on, Asuna! It was just an accident I swear!"

The mood, setting, and overall context was different, but the scenario was unchanged; a man with a large shield raised before him as a redheaded woman wielded a rather large javelin in her left hand. Both were making the approach to each other as the area dictated; the fight taking place in a gladiatorial arena, though it was made rather clear that this fight was clear it was just a game and nothing more. A game inhabited by various players of many shapes and sizes; some human, some elf, some more fantastic such as orcs, trolls, goblins, and humanoid renditions of animals such as oxen, frogs, wolves, and lizards, all cheering in the crowd of a large stadium from which two combatants prepared themselves.

"Well, it looks like this newbie didn't take the correct course of action. What do you think?" One of the announcers, a newt-like humanoid spoke towards the much taller giant beside them; the giant simply chuckled.

"Eh, whatever pays Asuna's bills I suppose; I heard this is just for demonstration for someone's birthday anyways." The giant answered, turning his attention back towards the arena as the primary fighter, Asuna, approached the much lower leveled combatant that was claiming things here were an accident. According to the stats shown on their screens, though, it was clear he had to have done this deliberately; the weaker opponent stood tall at only Level 8, whereas the quiet and advancing Asuna stood even taller at Level 112.

"Well what else did you expect to get when you walk straight into a PVP exclusive zone at such a low level? I could've sworn everyone made the warning clear as day, Klein." Asuna spoke from her avatar; a slender, but otherwise strong female human clad in white armor and face hidden by her helmet. The man before her looked a bit shorter, but more muscular and had a similar look of armor to him, with the main difference in weapon between the two being his giant kite shield he wielded.

"Oh come on Asuna, your gear didn't look that high level for crying out loud!" Klein complained, as Asuna groaned before making a single jab of her spear against Klein's shield, the fight was over as Klein's HP fell to zero as he collapsed to the ground completely exhausted. As the giant and newt announcer looked towards each other, they looked towards the back of the booth to notice an elf ringing the bell to indicate Asuna being the winner of this match.

Klein, meanwhile, looking at his screen in real life during a fit of rage, simply yelled a bunch of angrish to himself mostly towards his own stupidity in getting himself roped into a fight he couldn't win, the fact he thought Asuna more or less tricked him into it, or some other thing about the game that had him grabbing hold of the giant mattress he had laid out on the floor just before the presence of a tall, dark haired man came into view as Klein blinked.

"Oh hi Kazuto-san how's it going?" Klein said as he set the mattress down, as Kazuto simply groaned before moving to collapse himself down upon it.

"Nothing out of the ordinary outside of my boss giving me absolute hell despite everything I've done to work as hard as I could for the past year. I never once bothered asking anything from him in return prior, and then when it comes to mine and Asuna's wedding coming up shortly I have to tend to the fact if I so much as want him as a guest he's forcing a whole bunch of work down my throat for it." Kazuto spoke up as he relaxed himself on the mattress behind him, before sighing a bit to himself.

"Also thanks in advance for letting me stay here for a while; Asuna had to have the apartment to herself to deal with her younger brother's birthday, stuff like that, and the fact Suguha-chan has her birthday being held the same day over there as well, and-"

Klein grabbed hold of Kazuto's mouth when he was beginning to talk endlessly, though; interrupting him before he could finish anything.

"… Dude, relax; you have a job, you'll have a wife soon, and you're both financially secure. What are you worried about?" Klein asked as he moved towards the lobby room in the game as he went back to finding a spot to have his low level character rest so he could find his way back out later. Asuna, though, could be heard trying to explain how the game worked to someone on her end; talking in a rather cheerful, excited tone for somebody who just got done kicking a guy's ass.

"By the way… on the subject of that… What did you end up getting Suguha-chan for her birthday?"

"The MaterialEye."

"Doesn't she already have a copy of Sword Art O-WOAH HOLD ON NOW!" Klein interrupted himself, "Dude do you realize how expensive those things became in the past three months? I mean now that keeping them in-stock is stable, true, but they skyrocketed in prices because the thing is in its final state before a full public release!" Klein shouted towards Kazuto in the sheer surprise of it all.

"… So what of it?" Kazuto asked as he lifted himself off of the mattress to look at the screen and wave to the camera on-screen of feed of his fiancé, Asuna, waving to him happily. "Besides, I kind of figure this is the reason my boss is overworking me primarily because I asked if he could allow me to get a hold of a unit for next to nothing just days before I ask to invite him to the wedding ahead." Kazuto spoke to elaborate on Klein's concerns.

"… You have next to no life ahead of you don't you?"

"More like my mom wants grandkids before I'm 25, and I need to work on preparing for what kind of kid I'll end up having with Asuna-san because we both know for certain gaming is on the mind of the kid to be." Kazuto explained as he looked around the room; the room was rather large, considering this used to be Kazuto's original residence before he moved in with Asuna into an apartment, and so much of this was currently in the possession of Klein until whenever Klein decides Kazuto earned the household more than he ever did.

"Alright, fine, if that's your case… at least make sure Suguha-chan isn't going into this game blind like me. So much for claiming your boss was shoving work at you for nothing then..." Klein said. Kazuto, on the other hand, noticed full well as Klein now watched as he had a rather unamused expression on his face towards the younger man. Klein, taking the warning too well, calmed down and walked out of the chair; handing over the seat to the computer to Kazuto, all the while Kazuto smugly grinned before walking over to the login screen of the game and typed in his information.

"Heh… 'Welcome to Sword Art Online', my friend…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note: As you'll notice with both this story and Digimon Re: Adventure, I bumped up some of the ages for the cast by approximately no more than 5 years. As a result, Suguha is 18 instead of 13 like in the original script. It's mostly out of respect for a complaint a friend of mine had for both this fic and the other I'm working on.)


	2. Chapter 1: Virtualize

At Kazuto's apartment, it was rather small yet packed due to the space being used by what was currently in use at the moment. In the larger living area, Suguha was beginning to prepare herself for her first dive with the MaterialEye into Sword Art Online: Special Edition. As Suguha equipped the hardware onto her head; taking the form of a mask-like visor that covered her eyes, with smaller units from the MaterialEye strapped to her torso, forearms, and lower legs, Suguha had moved to boot the hardware up to begin.

As Asuna watched from the computer she sat at with interest, as did some of her soon to be in-laws with excitement as to what Suguha was to experience, the younger children were taken by awe when a medium sized, holographic sphere manifested from the MaterialEye and surrounded Suguha's whole body and reach with her legs and arms. As the lights on the outer portion of the visor turned on to showcase a bright cyan, Suguha was looking around to see what was on her end.

"How is it, Suguha-chan?"

"Yeah, this must be a wonderful 18th birthday for her."

"It looks wonderful once the MaterialEye activates in full, grandma; I just wish you could see it for yourself." Suguha perked up, her tone cheerful as she looks around into the in-game interface of Sword Art Online directly.

Before Suguha was visible one of 11 silhouettes currently selected; to Suguha she was prompted to select a race from which to choose for her avatar or to use one of her existing characters for the conversion to the Special Edition. Suguha, scrolling through the menu with a wave of her hand, highlighted over a selection of races with their names labeled; Human, Feral, Orcs, Trolls, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Fiend, Fay, and the 10th and 11th which were locked out of usage and hidden in terms of what it was.

Suguha, knowing which of the 11 were good and which weren't as good considering she already owned the original game, but also the fact she was going to be playing very differently from the average player, selected the Human race and was quietly inputting her customization options; knowing her older brother would get on her case if she picked certain choices in appearance, Suguha settled on a look much like her own; brunette hair of a black shade, relatively short at that, and having a lean figure with a developed but still youthful in size bust. Entering her name in as "Leafa", Suguha was nearly finished.

"How's it going so far?" Asuna asked from the other side of the room, as she was getting messages from her fiancé about Suguha's status, "Your brother will meet you where you're going to spawn once you're finished customizing yourself." Asuna added in.

"I'm doing fine; I'll meet him outside when I'm finished in just a sec." Suguha replied.

With Suguha was told to select a crucial trait for which she'll keep consistent with her character, she chose a selection rather quickly without bothering to look over the others; "Archangel Light", which the description said gave an advantage against Unknown and Dark aligned mobs. With Suguha finishing up with her customization, herself as she could see took on the form of her own avatar seen before her as the crystalline environment containing the customization screen disintegrated around her; revealing the starting area to be a small, isolated town just outside of the main city for humans, the whole region looked to be a forest in the surrounding area as well as numerous, very tall mountains in the area.

Stepping into view before her from the chapel building behind her, Leafa turned around and was faced with the black haired, taller, black armor wearing avatar of Kazuto, to which the status indicator listed his name as "Kirito".

"Hey there." Kirito smugly spoke towards Leafa, as Leafa looked at her older brother and grinned. Kirito, ditching his large set of armor for his black casual attire underneath, held two swords in hand; both of them being two-handed in structure and of the same type as each other.

"Let me guess, this old test again? You still do these after all these years?" Leafa asked, as Kirito merely shrugged before gifting Leafa the other sword in his hand as now his hands were free to properly secure his footing on his turf with his own sword.

"Well, what can I say? I'm always prone to being a dick to the new players on the block, but at least now I have a new reason for doing this test again now that the MaterialEye is out." Kirito responded, as he chuckled a bit away from the text chat to himself in real life with Klein watching closely and eyeing the scene warily.

"You're actually going to go through with this? Wasn't this just a joke people made once it was available?" Klein added in as he watched from the side.

"Trust me, Klein; have you ever known what it's like to have yourself face down with another man beating your ass, Klein?" Kazuto asked, as Klein raised an eye.

"… Like how I always tend to be at my own level still?"

"Or you lack of activity in general in the game, but that's beside the point…" Kazuto said as he looked over towards the screen again as he readied himself into the fight that would ensue in-game. Kirito stood tall with his longsword ready for use against Leafa. On Asuna's end, she was recording what was happening as well as projecting a shared screen on the wall in the apartment through a projector.

As Asuna's soon to be in-laws watched, a countdown appeared on the screen as the match between Kirito and Leafa began; Kirito made the first strike with a swift, vertical slash towards Leafa. In real life, Suguha quieted down her breathing as she side-stepped with a calm swiftness and grace; immediately forcing Kirito's attack to miss entirely despite the fact the HUD displayed Kirito's Level at 90 with everything presumably in his advantage.

Within the holographic sphere surrounding Suguha, a holographic pole materialized in her hand to represent the sword Leafa was using in-game; taking her patience and time with her own attacks, it was clear with even though both weapons were identical, Kirito's higher level didn't mean anything other than the fact he'd withstand more than a single cut from it.

As Kirito moved to attack again in a more rapid fashion due to Kazuto activating one of Kirito's skills, Kirito pulled one off with a rapid spinning slashes and cuts from his end; just as before, Suguha moved to dodge with the MaterialEye catching onto her movement rather well; dodging the flurry of hits by simply moving out of reach, it was clearly evident that Suguha knew what she was dong regarding dodging the attacks Kirito was throwing at Leafa.

Striking at Kirito with a sudden jab towards his gut, Kirito flinched and recoiled from the fact that, even if the damage was miniscule, the spot in question was still a weakspot on humanoid entities in the game. Having a small opening to harshly strike at Kirito with the longsword in her hands, Leafa actually did enough damage in her combo with the correct execution to send Kirito flying backwards and out of melee range.

As a result of the ensuing, one-sided fight from the least expected combatant, a small crowd of players gathered around the two. Some of their text boxes asked if Suguha was using the MaterialEye, prompting Asuna to take to ignore the crowd of other players, although she had to personally butt in when one of them, a large, robust Orc player, offered to challenge Leafa next.

"Not unless you don't want her brother to tear you a new one, bro." Asuna replied in-game, prompting the Orc to chuckle.

"Oh really? With him being Level 90? I'm already at the Cap; your own Level of 112 doesn't scare me nor does the Level 60 guy over there thinking he's invincible, the damned Edgelord." The Orc player replied back, as Asuna took notice of a player sitting on top of a large crate wearing nothing but a black hood and keeping the top down to obscure his face in shadow. Asuna, shrugging a bit, looked over at the Orc player again.

"Still, your own level isn't going to make a bigger difference." Asuna said as she turned her attention back to Kirito and Leafa.

By this point, Kirito was fighting more fiercely due to a passive skill taking effect; making his attacks faster and more frenzied, Suguha was swift on her feet in the room as she was carefully navigating around the sword Kirito was using against her. Leafa, having dodged every attack Kirito had to offer, before yet again, for only the second time in the fight, Leafa thrusted forward to strike a weakspot on Kirito; due to his now heavily decreased HP, the effect was more prominent in that he now had a debuff which caused him to lose additional HP; as Leafa slashed at Kirito's stunned ability to defend himself, she landed a final, finishing cut against him to send him knocking backwards.

Watching himself fall face down after having his ass beaten by another player, Kazuto watched with keen interested as by the time Leafa caused a critical wound on Kirito, he actually stopped touching the keyboard and mouse in the fight; he seen what he wanted to see enough as it is. Watching briefly as the Orc player moves to cast a healing spell on Kirito once the fight was over, Klein was rather shocked with the outcome of the fight; on Suguha's end, both hers and Kazuto's relatives were cheering for Suguha's victory.

"So… Asuna-san… Kazuto-san… Mind explaining to me what exactly I just saw?" Klein asked.

"The quote on quote "exploit" of the MaterialEye; the very nature of which a player avatar moves when using he MaterialEye causes the default evasion boost caused by one's higher level irrelevant, and makes it so a higher level player's attacks can easily miss against a player of this type regardless of their level." Kazuto answered, as Asuna nodded on the webcam feed.

"People are calling bullshit on the way the MaterialEye works, but regardless of how one would try and patch it, so far until the MaterialEye becomes a common thing in the gaming industry, this is more or less what you'll expect from Suguha's future performances. Also blame the Kendo training she has for her competence as well; too little MaterialEye players have this extent of training to make it function." Asuna brought up, as Klein sighed.

"So she's not even higher level than I am yet and already your sister is better than me… Wonderful…" Klein brought up.

"Honestly it'll be the MaterialEye as for why I've effectively stopped leveling Kirito; I just can't compete against players like those." Kazuto said, as he moved to give Klein the seat again, to which Klein looked Kazuto in worry before just sighing it off.

Suguha, looking around with the MaterialEye, noticed a small beeping sound on her end; moving to check the source of it, she opens the interface to showcase the fact her inbox has a new message in it. Opening her inbox, she noticed several obligatory welcome messages to the game by the developers, but the actual reason her inbox notified her was from a message from another player.

"Odd… This guy doesn't show a player name or even an icon…" Suguha spoke up, as Asuna looked at the feed she was getting from a separate camera recording Suguha's end of gameplay. When Suguha, hesitantly, opened up the message, she was rather surprised to see it appeared to be an invitation of sorts; as she was trying to read, she was quietly beginning to speak it…

But the camera feed on Asuna's end as well as what was being seen by her future in-laws, Kazuto, and Klein took them completely off guard; the text that showed directly on Suguha's view was completely garbled as her entire screen seemed to flicker in terms of visibility. Every time it flickered out, the crowd that had shown up for the fight were beginning to panic, all the while the mysterious hooded figure stepped forward off screen with every time the visibility was gone.

Just before anybody could see the figure's face, though, the figure had vanished entirely from view and the screen returned to normal. Even with the message no longer showing the person's name or icon, the text was now clear to everyone.

"You're new here, aren't you? I have a favor to ask of you; I can pay you back in the form of a Mount with no other charge if that'll be enough for you."

Suguha didn't know whether or not to respond back to the private message; while Asuna, Kazuto, and Klein were stunned silent with what they saw earlier, by the time they could read the text, Suguha already made up her mind and replied.

"Alright; where are you at?"

"Dragon's Inn, Nova City. It's just outside of the tutorial zone for you." A near instantaneous response back came from the mysterious client.

"Suguha-chan, are you sure you want to take up on his request?" Asuna asked, as Kazuto went back to his end of the screen.

"Asuna-sama, you're higher level than me, right? Can you and the Orc do a favor for me and scout the area for Edmond E. Edgeworth while I accompany Leafa?" Suguha messaged in-game to make sure the Orc was still paying attention; he was, and looked at Asuna with a nod to give his answer to the request.

"Alright, we'll search the area and see if we can somehow remotely spot the guy; just be careful if it decides to show up in Nova City as our mystery client." Asuna replied to Suguha, as she looked over towards Kirito as he nodded once the spell on his health regeneration fully revitalized himself, as Kazuto sat back down at the computer to look towards Suguha.

"Alright, time to introduce you to your primary province in the game early it looks like." Kirito said to Leafa, as Leafa nodded.

"Alright." Leafa said, as both her and her brother moved to walk out of the tutorial zone of this region in the game, as Asuna and the Orc went to seek out the mysterious entity that they had seen just moments prior.

Suguha, taking the time to adjust herself to the controls again, found moving faster than Kirito's running speed more easier for herself as Leafa. As Leafa left the tutorial zone with Kirito, a message relayed on the interface the moment she entered this outside portion of the map.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online."


	3. Chapter 2: Aberration

Walking through the exit from the tutorial zone and out into the primary early leveling zone, the surrounding area was surrounded by lush, massive plains of grass. Surrounding the zone were rather tall mountains, although the looks of them seemed to be more like giant hills instead. Rivers could be seen breaking the zone apart, with the province that Kirito and Leafa were walking through containing wild boars as a common spawn, with coyotes as a less common spawn. From what Leafa could see, the coyotes would immediately agro a player nearby. In addition, at an even rarer spawn rate, a bear could be seen asleep nearby, which prompted Kirito to stop.

"Alright, Leafa? I want to test things further with you; mind seeing if you can take down that bear over there?" Kirito asked, as Leafa looked over towards the bear in question. In reality, Suguha prepared herself by stretching herself first, before holding her hands together to forge into the holographic pole again. As Suguha was finished preparing herself, she moved forward; Leafa charged the bear as she got in some cuts as the bear rapidly woke up to try and attack Leafa. Rearing up and lunging at her with its massive front paws, Suguha sidestepped more harshly as Leafa dodged the attack, attacking the bear from behind as she landed a vertical cut against the bear's back.

As the bear let out a groan before falling over dead due to a vital area being struck so immensely, as Leafa's vital statistics immediately rejuvenated due to a bright glow appearing around Leafa. Leveling up from Level 1, and then straight to 4, Kirito clapped as he looked at his sister in approval.

"Thank goodness; you can kick my full grown ass at Level 90 but at the very least you can kill a Level 6 Bear Cub." Kirito remarked, as Leafa looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"At least that'll be important for my leveling strategy."

"Slow and steady type eh?" Kirito brought up, as he tossed over a bag to Leafa. Leafa opened it up and noticed it contained several portions of fish cakes and a slightly higher number of flasks of water. Storing the gifts into her inventory, Leafa looked at Kirito with a nod.

"Alright; remind me to pay you back later. Anything you'd want from any drops?" Leafa asked, as Kirito thought about it for a moment.

"Gear enhancement gems. Not asking for a huge statistic boost from these gems; just any gems you can get a hold of will do." Kirito said to Leafa, as Leafa nodded.

Resuming their walk towards the human city, Klein was busy watching Kazuto play the game as Klein heard his phone go off. Checking the notification on his phone after pulling it out, it read the name from the messenger as "Shinozaki Rika".

"Klein here, how's things doing Lisbeth-chan?" Klein answered the call, as he heard a quiet, yet cute, little growling from the other end of the call.

"Can you shut up whenever you call me by my SAO name, please?"

"Okay."

"And call you please refer to yourself as your own name, Ryōtarō-san?!" An angry, rather high pitched woman's voice on the other end was speaking, as Klein, or "Tsuboi Ryōtarō" as his phone showed for his actual name, groaned in response.

"Sorry, sorry; I get in the zone at times, dear." Ryōtarō answered back, as Rika sighed.

"Whatever; just can you find a means to log on SAO and help Asuna-sama and I track down that mysterious glitch we all saw earlier?" Rika added in, as Ryōtarō was about to say something but was cut off by something.

"… I didn't know you had an Orc alt, Rika-chan." Ryōtarō brought up, as he could practically feel like he was being slapped by Rika even though Rika wasn't even in the same room as him or Kazuto…

To which Ryōtarō turned around and noticed Kazuto right next to him.

"Dumbass, put her on the line with everyone else!" Kazuto told Ryōtarō, as Ryōtarō gritted his teeth a bit at Kazuto.

"Dude, I think she and Asuna are making too much of a big deal over this glitch if anything!" Ryōtarō retorted.

"WE HEARD THAT, Ryōtarō!" Asuna and Rika's voices could be heard yelling from Kazuto's computer and Ryōtarō's phone respectively. As Kazuto went back to the computer, he sighed in annoyance as he looked back at his screen.

"Alright, Leafa, we're just about-" Kirito began to finish saying as he realized he was in the middle of a road in the plains without a single trace of Leafa anywhere to be found. "… Sis?" Kirito asked, as he heard the sound of footsteps behind himself as Kirito immediately tracked down an approaching player; no username or icon displayed, just that the Level was 60…

… And it was the exact same cloaked figure as before. Foreboding was his appearance alone with the black cloak, but his face, even though it was in view, showed nothing but shadow and constantly flickered in and out of actually existing as a physical entity or not. Finally stabilizing itself and appearing ready to take action against Kirito, Kazuto was quick to alert Asuna's attention.

"ASUNA GET ON OVER HERE, I FOUND HIM!" Kazuto said as he readied his sword to attack, as the shadowy figure materialized a bladed baton of pure light below onto his left wrist, as the being moved into a combat position by showing the weapon's incredible maneuverability.

As Kirito moved in for combat, he wasn't expecting much of a fight at all considering the fact this entity appeared to be a living glitch of sorts, and thus logically shouldn't behave like anything abnormal for an NPC; how wrong he was for going in like that.

The figure stormed Kirito with an unrelenting force of blunt strikes and blows from his baton, as Kirito's weapon only managed to miss entirely or parry any direct attack towards him from the mysterious being. The being's advances against Kirito, being able to directly assault him without much effort and so hostile in movement that Kirito was effectively locked into parrying the attacks, made Kazuto realize far too late into the "fight" that this glitch was moving with precision and tactics only shown previously from users of the MaterialEye.

Unlike his fight with Leafa, though, it was clear that this mysterious attacker was being far more aggressive with his strikes against Kirito than Leafa ever was, before it wasn't too long before Kirito got caught in the attacker's skill being loaded which dealt a 360 degree blow of blunt energy suddenly catching Kirito in a stunned effect, before the figure took quick advantage of this by smashing his baton's bladed portion directly into Kirito's spine.

With Asuna and Rika's Orc character arriving onto the scene via horseback, the entity's faceless head turned towards the incoming duo coming to Kirito's aid and summoned forth a powerful, dense smoke that obscured itself before it ultimately vanished from the area. The smoke, however, wasn't ordinary smoke as Kirito, Asuna, and Rika's Orc were all coughing and hacking with a sickly tone to all three of them.

"Alright, everyone log out and wait an hour; we're too vulnerable with the deathly ill status hitting us!" The Orc spoke up, as the Orc moved to sit and wait for the approximate time to log out, as once everyone was beginning to stop coughing outright, Asuna and Kirito sat to begin to log out as well. The status effect, "deathly ill", is a status that normally occurred only after a player character's death and immediate resurrection, and served to drastically decrease every stat the victim had by 80% until an hour passed in real time.

With Kazuto, Asuna, and Rika successfully logged out, Kazuto slammed the desk around his keyboard in absolute frustration over how he caused this situation to happen.

"Great, now my sis is in the game alone with some psychotic phantom. Anyone got any ideas?" Kazuto asked through the voice chat, as Ryōtarō was talking with Rika on the phone.

"Hey, Kazuto, don't we have Keiko-chan we-"

"First, stop calling all of our female friends cute, second, not a good idea unless she has the MaterialEye. Now that we know what Edmond E. Edgeworth in there is capable of, nobody without the MaterialEye is going to put up a fight to him that easily." Kazuto told off Ryōtarō.

"But last I checked Keiko-san said she and her friend from America got a hold of the MaterialEye recently." Ryōtarō pointed out, as Kazuto sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness for that… Anyone else who could possibly help?" Asuna brought up.

"Well thankfully Keiko's friend has an uncle who lives in Japan with the MaterialEye as well… Andrew Gilbert Mills was it?"

"Agil? Oh thank god somebody I can trust in keeping Suguha-chan safe from this prick…"

"STOP CALLING ME CUTE, BRO. I'm kind of getting tired about it!" Suguha yelled over Asuna's voice call with Kazuto on their computers.

"But it's not my fault that's what you're like, you tsundere!" Kazuto retorted back, only to not get a response back from Suguha as Kazuto had a bit of a cocky grin a few seconds later. "That always shuts her up…"

"Be thankful for that, dude." Ryōtarō and Rika both spoke in unison towards Kazuto, all the while Kazuto sighed a bit as he looked back at the webcam on the computer.

"Asuna, do what you can to make sure Suguha is safe, alright? I'm heading on over now." Kazuto asked, as Asuna nodded. Both of them, blowing a kiss to the other, as Kazuto shut down the webcam software on his end. Ryōtarō looked over towards Kazuto with concern.

"Just what is that entity anyways?" Ryōtarō asked, as Kazuto shrugged.

"Whatever it is, it isn't human; or at least it isn't normal. Its movements are just like those with the MaterialEye, but its high enough level to actually pose a legitimate threat. Not to mention the fact it had zero issues with attacking me when normally it would've just passed through me had it been a normal player." Kazuto rambled about, as Rika spoke up from Ryōtarō's phone.

"So what do you want us to do?" Rika asked, as Kazuto glanced over towards them as he neared the door.

"Get a hold of Keiko and anybody she or anyone else of us knows has the MaterialEye. As for me…" Kazuto brought up, as he held his wallet in view of himself as he checked how much yen he had on hand and sighed.

"I'm going to wait things out until we know for dead certain this thing is dangerous. All of us need to alert any players with the MaterialEye to keep an eye out for it." Kazuto ordered, as Ryōtarō nodded.

"Yes sir, Kazuto-sama." Both he and Rika spoke as Kazuto left the room and proceeded to head outside to walk to the nearest train station he could to get back home.

Back on Suguha's perspective, she arrived at Nova City without interruption. The city looked gigantic, to say the least, and had many, solid steel walls surrounding it with a regal white and gold to the walls. The buildings in general shared the same coloration, and the overall look of the city as a whole just reeked of sheer wealth on whomever ruled the place. Everything was safely secured, guard NPCs covered most of the map yet weren't too common, and riders on flying mounts could be seen in the air patrolling the skies.

Checking the map's interface on her screen, Suguha determined the location of Dragon's Inn rather easily; walking to the location quietly, she found this sector of the city to look rather old and aged. The buildings still stood strong, but the material used in them was not as solidly reinforced as everywhere else. Walking through the more old fashioned, brick layered roads of this part of Nova City, Leaf entered Dragon's Inn quietly and without drawing a lot of attention. Almost everyone inside had one thing in common with their equipment they displayed; ranged weapons, specifically weapons such as bows, crossbows, and most commonly guns.

As she got another PM notification, Suguha checked it and unlike before, showed the name and icon of the messenger this time around; a player named Sinon, with what appeared to be the more human-like Feral appearance for an avatar with snow leopard-like ears and tail, but the rest of her body being relatively humanoid sans the large feet and clawed hands.

"So you're Kirito's brother, yes? I'm assuming he gave you his infamous "Noob Test" as per anyone else, correct?" Sinon's PM told Leafa, as Leafa responded.

"Are you the one who asked for my help with a favor earlier?" Leafa replied, to which Sinon's expression appeared to be shocked.

"… Me? How did… Oh, I remember now… Ya, that would be me… Although technically I'm just the messenger for the guy asking for help. He seems to be your own age if I could tell." Sinon answered back, before adding in, "Have a seat next to me by the counter." Sinon asked of Leafa, as Leafa moved over towards where Sinon was at the front counter of the inn and had a seat right next to her.

"So, did you actually beat Kirito in his git gud test?" Sinon asked directly, as Leafa nodded as everyone's chatter went quiet for a moment.

"Yes, yes I did. He said something about it having to do with the MaterialEye." Leafa responded; suddenly the whole chat channel was flooded with messages of the players in the inn going into an absolute uproar of anger, frustration, and overall hostility that Leafa was there at all, calling her various names as if indicating she cheated her way through the game so far with the MaterialEye and has no business being here, with some flat out telling her to go to some place called "Mirror's Gate" as an unusual enthusiasm for hell due to how they worded it.

"Everyone; back off unless you want to face me in her place." Sinon yelled across the whole channel; everyone went dead silent and went back to their business with her tone alone. As Leafa looked at Sinon, her level was at Level 150; the apparent Cap for the game, and a special icon around her status showed her to be a user of the MaterialEye after Suguha had examined it. Judging by the rifle and the axe she has at her side, she was more than willing to use her status her as authority if anyone got in her way.

"So, you're indeed Kirito's sister than in that case; mind I ask why you're so interested on helping mystery kid anyways?" Sinon asked, as one of the player beside her was muttering about how this "mystery kid" was nothing more than a pathetic excuse for an edgelord. The last time Suguha recalled the term being used, though, she could see clear panic in everyone in the events that followed.

"Basically, yes; he sounded legitimate with his PM, but I'm still confused as to why he didn't show his name or icon from it at all." Leafa told Sinon, as Sinon sighed.

"Some players with or without the MaterialEye have been experiencing a similar glitch after the latest patch dropped, so that might be why." Sinon said, before looking at Leafa more seriously. "But I have to ask again, why do you want to help him? He's never messaged anybody in such a way before until you showed up, so I'm dead curious to know why he's taken notice of you all of a sudden…"

"Yeah, nobody has ever been contacted by the Chronicler in private before; right boys?"

"RIGHT SIR!" All of the other players in the inn spoke up, as Sinon maintained her serious gaze towards Leafa, as Leafa finally answered.

"It's only the right thing to do is to help another player out with the game. Besides, I don't see the issue at hand in all honesty. What is he like?" Leafa asked, as Sinon for once broke a tiny bit from her usually fierce gaze she had the whole time Leafa was here and looked more paranoid all of a sudden.

Behind herself, Leafa could hear somebody quietly eating food; turning around to face the newcomer, the man looked more or less her own age, although the overall bishonen type of body he had wasn't helping; his hair was lengthy and tied in a ponytail, and his hood was worn more like a cape for as ragged and aged as it looked. His own clothing, much like her own and Kirito's, consisted entirely of black with the sole exception being the blue with brown highlights for pants he had, as well as the white, leather shoes he wore.

"Um… Excuse me…?" Leafa tried to talk to the mysterious person, as the man stopped eating from a loaf of baked bread and looked at Leafa with a type of blood-like eyes that weren't anything less than soul piercing even for how mild they looked.

"So… You're taking up on my request, Leafa?" The man asked, as Leafa looked a bit wary.

"You… Are you Chronicler…?" Leafa asked, as the man closed his eyes for a moment as he heavily sighed a bit, though he sounded incredibly exhausted from his tone.

"Y-Yeah… That would be me… Or whatever you'd call somebody who had their ass trampled upon by others around you…" Chronicler confirmed himself, as he opened his eyes to look straight at Leafa.

"So, if I may finish what Sinon is asking… Why do you want to help so badly?"

"It's the right thing, that's all;" Leafa answered, as she tried to look at Chronicler's status only to find, just like before, not a trace of his name or even an icon; his vital stats didn't even appear visible to her at all either, which no other player was able to hide from her so far. "Why do you need help from a low level like me, though?" Leafa asked Chronicler, as Chronicler took his time to answer; quietly taking a bite of his "meal", taking the time to chew and swallow it, before calmly looking towards Leafa with a rather calm gaze.

"Leafa, trust me when I say this; I'm willing to help you get up to near my own level while asking for very little in return… I'm right here before you just for the point of being honest with you…" Chronicler spoke, as everyone in the inn was silently gazing at Chronicler with a heavily wary tone they all shared except for Leafa.

"Is it just too much to ask for anybody to just be my friend?"


	4. Chapter 3: Stranger

"So what do you need done?" Chronicler asked Leafa, as Leafa looked at Chronicler and blinked.

"… Wasn't it you who needed help?" Leafa asked.

"Eh, I figure I'd give you help for helping me as well." Chronicler said to Leafa, as Leafa looked around at the players in the inn. All of them looked nervous as to Chronicler's presence, as did Sinon, but Leafa didn't fully understand their reasoning for this. All Chronicler appeared to truly want was a friend as far as Leafa could already tell.

"… Alright, I'll be willing to help." Leafa said, rendering Sinon behind her rather shocked, before further shocking her by grabbing Chronicler by the collar of his hood and shirt and forcing him in closer. "Just be absolutely sure you're not trying to scam me, alright?!" Suguha pointed out, as Chronicler looked rather nervous although nodded to her.

"A-Alright… Meet me outside when you're done eating…" Chronicler said, as Leafa was just about to say something regarding that, before Sinon tapped her shoulder.

"You didn't know of the way MaterialEye players need to play?" Sinon asked, as Leafa blinked as she gazed back over towards her.

"… What do you mean?"

"You need to eat and drink much like you would in real life when playing with the MaterialEye." Sinon told Leafa, as Leafa sighed and looked over towards a larger, heavily built, gray color hide Feral at the counter, with the appearance of a bison for his upper half.

"I'll just have some sandwiches and milk." Leafa said to the bartender, as the Feral looked over towards her with a nod, moving to grab and prepare what she ordered. Leafa, meanwhile, looked over at Chronicler. "Do you want something better to eat than just bread?" Leafa asked, as Chronicler blinked.

"No, no; I'm fine, trust me…" Chronicler said, his voice rather quiet and mellow. Leafa seemed to disagree regarding the look on her face. The Feral bartender also agreed, as placing a plate of Leafa's order of a sandwich and glass of milk in front of her, he also placed an identical order in front of Chronicler although swapped the milk on his order for water.

"Look, we need to talk a bit first; just keep calm and enjoy something to eat; you look rather scrawny anyways." Leafa told Chronicler, as Chronicler grumbled a little bit as he tried to figure out how to respond to Leafa's answer to this.

"Leafa I don't need to eat as much as you'd think I would." Chronicler said, as Leafa decided to argue by lifting up the hem of Chronicler's shirt and showing how skinny he truly was underneath; looking rather underfed, Chronicler's appearance worried Leafa in more ways than one at the moment.

"You're beginning to become skin and bone; I'm not going to let you travel with me if you're not going to keep yourself healthy." Leafa said, as Chronicler tried to figure out how to respond, only for him to sigh quietly and begin to grab the sandwich he was given by the bartender. He wasn't paying attention during the conversation, but the bartender had quietly switched out the lighter sandwich with a sandwich better for quickly gaining weight. Three slices of grain rich bread, several slices of ham and jerky, several layers of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, with layers of thick, protein rich cheese, Chronicler quietly began eating just to avoid further arguing with Leafa.

Leafa, happy that Chronicler was eating a better meal than a simple loaf of bread, looking over towards the bartender to give him her thanks; opening up the private message interface to send a transaction, the user's name appeared as "Agil" and she was about to send him a good chunk of copper based off of what she had on hand, but the man simply messaged for her to keep the change, as well as gifting Leafa an inventory expansion bag without receiving any funds from Leafa.

With the Feral smiling in approval of Leafa's behavior so far, Sinon was quick to PM Leafa again. Just as Sinon mentioned, Sinon's icon and username appeared invisible yet again, indicating it was a glitch and probably nothing more… at least, Leafa hoped that was the case.

"Are you still sure you want to help Chronicler?" Sinon asked, as Leafa nodded with her response.

"I'm certain; he might seem uncanny to you guys, but he looks like he's got issues with his overall health and loneliness." Leafa replied.

"Do you want me to keep an eye out just in case something fishy happens?" Sinon asked Leafa, as Leafa thought about it for a moment; she turned to watch Chronicler still eating, watching as Chronicler was taking hungrier, quicker bites from his meal than he did prior, as Leafa sighed a bit.

"I guess… but don't try and constantly hound Chronicler or myself, alright?" Leafa replied to Sinon. Sinon nodded as much as she didn't like the idea, and silently moved off to the side to handle something else as Leafa waited on Chronicler to finish eating. As Chronicler finished with his sandwich, and during his few small minutes of eating, Chronicler's skinnier body still seemed to stay the way it was, but a tiny bit of it looked bulkier than beforehand.

Chronicler, taking a drink from the glass of water he got as well, looked at Leafa once he finished and rather awkwardly smiled at her just to try and show he was okay now. Sure, he still looked in badly need of eating more frequently to get his weight up to healthier levels, but Leafa let it slide because she didn't want to forcefully have Chronicler eat too much just yet.

Walking outside of the inn with Chronicler leading the way out, Chronicler was quick to channel a skill to summon forth a mount for both himself and Leafa to use. Summoning forth a large, rather massive horse resembling a Shire in coloration but having the overall hugeness of a Clydesdale, Chronicler was quick to jump up onto the Horse's saddle, all the while holding his hand out to Leafa down below.

Leafa blinked a bit; she could understand why Chronicler would want to help her onto the horse's back due to its height towering over herself, but at the same time, she could tell Chronicler was nervous because his arm was shaking. She could also notice an orange, crystalline rune on Chronicler's palm. After a moment, Chronicler rested his arm to his side for the moment to ask Leafa something due to her hesitance.

"Do you still have something you need here?" Chronicler asked, as Leafa shook her head.

"I-If you don't mind, I'd prefer we stock up on supplies before we head out into the field." Leafa said, as Chronicler nodded.

"Alright, get on; I'll take you around some of the shops in this district to get you stocked up with stuff I know you'll need." Chronicler said, offering his hand out to Leafa again. Leafa could still notice Chronicler seemed nervous, but regardless, decided to go along with helping him calm by taking his hand as Chronicler lifted her up onto the back of the horse. Seating her behind him, Chronicler was quick to grab hold of his arm as a sharp hiss escaped his lips.

"Are you alright?" Leafa asked, noticing Chronicler's sound of pain.

"Y-Yeah…" Chronicler lied, as he was thankful for the heavily armored and covering gauntlets he was wearing for the moment. He didn't want to let Leafa to worry over him until she knew him better; he wouldn't feel right if she did.

Suguha, though, grabbed a hold of Chronicler's sides to hold on for him to ride along the streets. "Relax, Chronicler… Let's just get a move on, okay?" Leafa asked, as Chronicler practically cringed in surprise when Leafa grabbed hold of him, which didn't escape Leafa's notice as she backed off a bit so she wasn't too close to him.

"A-Alright…" Chronicler said, as he began to have his horse move forward at an initially slow pace, before speeding up a tiny bit after very moment or so until Leafa could adjust to the power of the draft horse that Chronicler was using to get them around the city.

Back in real life, Kazuto was boarding a train at a nearby station to head back home to Asuna. Taking his phone out to call her, Kazuto sighed as he was preparing for what to expect. "How is Suguha doing?"

"Rather calm and quiet, just playing Sword Art Online with the MaterialEye still; aside from her, all of your relatives left by this point for home, so Suguha would be heading home sometime later once she's done playing." Asuna told Kazuto, as Kazuto signed in relief at the fact.

"Have you been able to get into contact with Keiko-ch-"

"Don't push it with her."

"Right, then… Keiko-san. How've you been with contacting her?" Kazuto asked, as Asuna sighed.

"Hoo boy, how do I put this… She's hired her friend from America to basically act as a hitman for anybody who tries to harm Suguha in-game. Call it extreme, but at Level 150 with the MaterialEye, nothing is really going to threaten her agent so easily." Asuna said, as Kazuto sighed.

"Well look on the bright side, everything has calmed down from earlier today and so far it looks like the glitch isn't effecting Suguha-san's play any further, right?" Kazuto asked, as Asuna had a look over at Suguha on her side.

"Hey Suguha-san, how are you handling?"

"I'm doing fine, Asuna-sama." Suguha answered, as Leafa was doing what she could to keep a tight hold on Chronicler during her ride on his horse, although not overtly to where it would freak out Chronicler. Asuna, sighing in relief, went back to her phone.

"She's doing fine, Kazuto-san." Asuna responded as Kazuto sighed.

"Okay, good to know; I'll be back home in about half an hour should everything stay on track." Kazuto said.

"Alright, I'll see you when you get here Kazuto-kun."

"Same to you my guardian angel." Kazuto said as the two hung up on their end, all the while Kazuto looked out of the train window to see the day still had an hour or two left until sunset, and now he was wondering as to how he'd deal with the mysterious entity should things ever become too dangerous, which even then Kazuto thought he was just taking this too out of hand anyways.

Back in the game, Chronicler and Leafa made their first stop at one of the shops; a general goods shop. As Leafa got off of the horse's back, Chronicler got off as well to accompany her. Leafa, interacting with the NPC for the shop and opening up the shop screen on her end, realized some of the items costed more than what she currently even had. "Oh great… Forgot about this…" Leafa noted, as Chronicler messaged a PM to Leafa which took her by surprise.

Opening up the PM, Chronicler's message was a mailed 50 gold as to make Leafa's purchases at the shop easier for her. Not only that, but Chronicler's gift alone felt like it was worth far more than the reward Chronicler offered her ahead of time.

"You really shouldn't have; I couldn't easily gotten the money myself through mob hunting…" Leafa brought up.

"You'd need the materials first to ensure you got that money, though." Chronicler pointed out, as Leafa sighed a bit as she opened up the conversation with the shop NPC again and purchased several items for her inventory; a wrist pouch, a belt pouch, two eight slot medium bags, and two six slot large bags. All of this for inventory space, with Leafa then purchasing some gathering tools, such as a fishing rod, bait, and a pickaxe.

"Okay, now I'll probably need some alternate attire and then we'll head off. I feel kind of surprised nobody brought up my current one…" Leafa noted how her starting uniform, with her youthful appearance and somewhat developed breasts, didn't draw a lot of perverted comments on her outfit showing off her midriff and her cleavage quite a bit.

"Alright, let's get going then." Chronicler said as he got back onto his horse, before helping Leafa up onto its back before taking off with her towards a clothing shop. Leafa thought about something with Chronicler and his overall lack of reaction.

' _Odd… I kind of figured he would've been trying to make obvious advances to me… All he's been doing has been helping me out with progress. Is he dense, or…'_ Leafa was thinking to herself, as Chronicler steered his horse in the direction of the nearest clothing store. Eventually arriving and stopping just outside, Leafa got off of the horse as Chronicler got off as well but didn't move any further.

"Say, uh… Chronicler? Could you come in with me for this? I want to make sure I look good…" Leafa asked, as she looked back at Chronicler.

"It doesn't matter to me honestly; just pick something you know will work, not for what someone else will think." Chronicler told Leafa. Leafa, though, sighed a bit but at least humored him before walking into the store and checking things out for herself. Chronicler waited outside; leaning on the back leg of his horse to rest a little, before Leafa's distinct footsteps made it clear she was walking back out to him.

As he opened his eyes, he looked at Leafa's new attire; prominently green and looking relatively simple despite giving off a cute appeal, her outfit covered her more than her default one did. Having a light silver and red trim on her outfit, Leafa's new casual attire could give off a semi-formal appearance to her that did more than just cover her previously exposed skin.

"Are you coming on to me?" Chronicler asked as he rolled his eyes, as Leafa walked over towards Chronicler with a cheeky grin.

"So now you decide to notice." Leafa said as she gave Chronicler a teasing wink.

"Trust me you look prettier without the gratuitous skin showing, so if I may continue do we have anywhere else we need to stop first before we head off?" Chronicler asked, as Leafa thought about it for a moment.

"Well… I don't really want to burden you further, though I would appreciate a form of ranged weapon to use in case of an emergency or-" Leafa trailed off, as Chronicler sighed and pulled out a bow, a rather expensive one judging by the design, and a quiver of arrows as he handed them to Leafa for her to take. Leafa's eyes widened a little.

"Wait, I didn't mean it seriously or anything!" Leafa spoke up, as Chronicler blinked.

"I already have another bow so just go ahead and take it, please." Chronicler told Leafa, as Leafa blushed a tiny bit.

"Look, Chronicler, I know you're wanting to help me out here, but you don't have to shower me with gifts like crazy!" Leafa said as she was beginning to feel more irritated about Chronicler's current behavior, as Chronicler's eyes tensed in appearance before calming himself down. Putting the bow away and getting back onto the horse, Chronicler helped Leafa up as Leafa sighed heavily from how she was beginning to feel stressed.

"L-Look, I'm sorry to snap at you like that; we don't know much of each other just yet so you showering me with gifts is making me feel uneasy because it feels like you're being needlessly selfless." Leafa told Chronicler.

"As if you're not doing the same for agreeing to help me? Especially with what I'm asking?" Chronicler said as he began to lead the horse towards the city gate. Leafa was quiet now; they both had a fair point there. Chronicler wanted to selflessly give Leafa gifts, and Leafa wanted to selflessly help Chronicler despite knowing very little about him just as Chronicler knows little on Leafa as well.

Noticing the in-game time of day was beginning to befall sunset, Suguha checked the time on her in-game interface and sighed a bit. "Chronicler, if I may; can I ask a favor?" Leafa asked, as Chronicler looked over his shoulder and blinked, taking in Serdea's more calmed down, friendlier gaze, although he could see a small hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Do you know any good spots to view the sunset at?" Leafa asked, as Chronicler blinked.

"Yeah, why?" Chronicler asked, as Leafa took a moment to take a deep breath and breathe out calmly.

"Considering I won't be logged into the game for much longer than an hour or two, I think we both need more of a chance to introduce ourselves to each other before we begin heading out onto the field."


	5. Chapter 4: Lighthouse

It was beginning to get rather late during the day, as Rika arrived to Ryōtarō's house, she was quick to notice he was back online in the game proper.

"Hey, what's the status on Suguha-chan?" Rika asked, as Ryōtarō sighed a little bit as he looked at the screen.

"She's been moving throughout Nova City with a mysterious patron it looks like." Ryōtarō answered, as Rika blinked.

"… I could've sworn I told Shino to stay out of Suguha's distance once the introduction was out of the way?" Rika brought up before walking over to the computer to look at Ryōtarō's screen. Seeing Klein in-game in stealth mode as he watches as two users riding on a horse were passing his direction, Rika could identify Leafa but for the rider she couldn't tell who it was.

"… Who is that boy with her?" Rika asked.

"I dunno but Kazuto's going to kill him if he tries anything fishy."

"He'll kill the bastard long before that but that's not what I'm asking. Who is he?" Rika asked, as Klein moused over to click on Chronicler's avatar and examined him; like with everyone else, neither an icon nor a player name appeared on Chronicler's status, nor did his vital stats appear at all either.

"Odd… I've seen that glitch with your alts before, but normally I'm still able to see stuff such as your HP, MP, Stamina, and other stats just fine…" Ryōtarō brought up to Rika, as he did what he could to remain out of Chronicler and Leafa's sights during their travel through the city to reach a higher point at the city.

Chronicler suddenly ordered for his horse to stop, all the while Chronicler appeared to have suddenly jerked to face Klein's direction; his pupils having turned into slits as he took in the sights in front of him towards where Klein was. Upon quickly realizing Chronicler had spotted him somehow, Klein ran off from the scene. Chronicler's frenzied gaze, though, calmed once Leafa shook him to snap him out of it.

"Stop it! That scared me for a moment!" Leafa told Chronicler, as Chronicler's eyes was back to as normal as they would be considering their unusual look by default either way. Chronicler came to his senses as he looked at Leafa.

"S-Sorry, got into a zone there…" Chronicler said, as he moved to face forward again and continue having his horse ride them both towards the castle of Nova City, to which upon reaching the primary entrance of it, Chronicler took an alternate flight of stairs to the side upwards. The castle looked rather massive and futuristic in design; the silver steel walls on the exterior combined with the golden trim gave off a holy appearance to it.

One of the towers Chronicler stopped at upon reaching a hill was a lighthouse of sorts. Chronicler, dismounting from the horse and helping Leafa get off as the horse was de-summoned, looked towards Leafa as he began to walk up the flight of stairs on the lighthouse building itself. Leafa moved to follow him, although she stopped for a moment when she saw a plaque on the tower's side just at halfway up to the top, as she read it quietly.

"We still miss you; 2012-2014." Leafa quietly spoke to herself as she read the plaque. The plaque itself seemed to showcase that there were two figures that were clearly adults, and one of them a child. Leafa didn't know the meaning of this; she had been to the castle before in her previous time playing the game, but had never been to this portion of the castle. In fact, she didn't know this spot even existed before; was this a newly added portion of it?

Continue to following Chronicler up the flight, she watched as Chronicler was seated facing out towards the incoming sunset. His expression, though, appeared to be rather gloomy compared to his mood beforehand. Moving to sit beside Chronicler, Leafa looked at Chronicler with a bit of worry.

"Hey… I didn't mean to interrupt any sort of plan you had for today, but the fact you're willing to help me just sort of bothers me yet feels nice of you… I mean, on one hand you're too generous, on another you wouldn't have all that much to gain from it so soon, and also the fact you barely even know who I am…" Leafa told Chronicler, all the while noticing as to how Chronicler was looking towards her now; his expression looking a bit hurt a little as his gaze looked uncomfortable.

"Hey… uh… Leafa? How have you been with others when it comes to friends?" Chronicler asked her, as Suguha blinked.

"My friends? Well… They're very nice to me, but often times I feel they're being a little too overprotective of me at times…" Leafa admitted, as Chronicler quietly maintained his gaze on her.

"Do you have any siblings?" Chronicler asked, as Leafa blinked.

"A little too personal don't you think?" Leafa brought up; at first she was going to fire a glare to Chronicler, but once she saw his expression worsen a little, she decided to ask something for herself, "You… you don't have any friends or siblings, do you?" Leafa asked. Chronicler was quiet; his expression seemed uneasy a little bit.

"I… well… No… No I don't… Not yet, at least…" Chronicler said, as he did what he could to face Leafa and maintain eye contact; he looked scared, but Leafa understood this and, very quietly, lay a hand on Chronicler's shoulder.

"Hey… Hey! I'm not trying to upset you, Chronicler… I'm just kind of curious why you're being so kind to me, and yet why your own health isn't all that good…" Leafa told Chronicler, as Chronicler looked at Leafa with a confident, yet still frightened, gaze.

"You're just going to disappear like everyone else normally does, though… I wanted to make sure I at least leave a good impression on somebody whenever it would be my own time to disappear…" Chronicler said, his voice becoming a little choked up as his expression began to look teary a little, causing Leafa's eyes to widen with how insecure about himself Chronicler was being right now.

"C-Chronicler… Hold your hand out for a moment… Please?" Leafa asked, as she hold her own hand out towards Chronicler, as Chronicler came to his senses a little and slowly, but very hesitantly, moved to have his hand reach out and grab Leafa's own, all the while Leafa took Chronicler's hand into both of her own to showcase her trust in him.

"Chronicler, I'm not going to die at any time; you're not going to be alone forever. If you need a friend by your side, I trust you that I'll be here every day to see you just so I know you won't try and kill yourself knowing you're this alone. Just promise me something, Chronicler; that if I'm to stay by your side accompanying you as a friend, that you need to begin with recovering your own health as well." Leafa began to tell Chronicler, as Chronicler's teary expression, very slowly, began to calm.

"Y-You really mean that, Leafa? You're not going to treat me like a freak or just a tool like everyone else has? You're actually willing to be my friend…?" Chronicler asked, as his other hand, carefully and quietly, moved to secure his grasp of Leafa's hands as Leafa had in turn as they both maintained eye contact.

"Chronicler, I promise you; I will not let you be alone with this condition of yours. I've seen enough both now and earlier that you need somebody to take care of you, and I'll be that friend you desperately need." Leafa told Chronicler with a tone of confidence, as she looked at him quietly as Chronicler did the same, though the two of them moved their hands back to their sides after they both began to feel a little awkward with how close they were.

"… My my, I, er, didn't mean to sound in love there if I came across like that…" Leafa spoke in a bit of sudden shyness, as Chronicler nervously laughed.

"Y-Yeah… um… I apologize for my behavior for today… I'm not very good with first meetings since often time I'm flat on the floor in the end…" Chronicler told Leafa as he nervously scratched the back of his head. Both of them with a prevalent blush a tiny bit, both of them moved to sit as they now watched towards the dusk of the early night, as Chronicler and Leafa quietly sat beside each other as Chronicler leaned back on the tower of the lighthouse, as Leafa quietly pointed out towards the night sky for incoming fireworks that were being displayed once the sun had fully set.

Chronicler and Leafa, enjoying the display at hand, were rather quiet as they both watched the event when it had started. Leafa, though, noticed Chronicler was beginning to look incredibly tired to the point he looked ready to fall asleep. Sending a PM to Chronicler to indicate to him that she'll see him in the morning and hopes that he'll get a good sleep knowing he has a friend, moved to quietly take Chronicler's cape and move it over him like a blanket.

As Leafa logged out of Sword Art Online, the MaterialEye around Suguha began to lower the sphere around here to where it began to become absorbed back into the central device around her head; with her arms and legs loosening up a bit as she moved to quietly stretch in place before taking off the head piece and wearing it around her neck and sighing.

"So… How was your date?" Asuna asked as Suguha nearly freaked from the sudden question.

"Uh… He's just my new friend I made, Asuna!" Suguha pointed out towards Asuna, as Asuna kept snickering.

"Really? You seemed just about ready to confess your love early to him." Asuna spoke, as Suguha groaned.

"Look, just leave me and him alone about it, alright? We're just wanting to be friends since we've only just met for goodness sake!" Suguha told off Asuna, as she was beginning to pack up the MaterialEye to prepare to walk home.

"Whatever; Kazuto's going to be back soon, so I was wondering whether you'd get on your way home sooner or later be it when he arrives or before that." Asuna brought up, as Suguha sighed.

"Look, I don't want to burden you two and your constant desire to have sex with my brother kind of wants me to leave before he shows up every time I'm over here." Suguha brought up, as Asuna rolled her eyes a bit at the fact.

"Well at least you don't live too far away." Asuna mentioned, "Still, it was nice having you over; I'm just hoping you and your brother get along better next year." Asuna brought up, as Suguha sighed.

"Whatever, I'll just see you both in-game tomorrow once I'm done with studies." Suguha said as she finished packing things up, before walking outside of the apartment, "See ya!" Suguha said to Asuna as she moved to leave; Asuna waving her goodbye.

As Suguha walked towards the stairs downward towards her mother's apartment, she passed by a strange man she could've sworn she never saw here before.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Kirigaya." He spoke to Suguha, as Suguha blinked.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Mr…. uh…"

"Sugou; Sugou Nobuyuki. I'm new here to this complex, just do me a favor and tell your brother to get out of the face of my boss next time." Mr. Sugou addressed himself, as the man walked up the stairs on Suguha walked her way down, walking up another flight as Suguha walked down through the hall to get to her own apartment where her mom was waiting for her.

' _Odd… Why does that last name sound so familiar? Is he the suck up my brother keeps groaning about?'_ Suguha thought to herself, as she walked up to her own doorstep as she used her key to get inside and walk into her own home as her mom greeted her upon her return.

Back at Asuna's temporary apartment, Kazuto had walked into apartment as he looked exhausted upon his return.

"And thus I return from the cold darkness of being away from you…" Kazuto spoke as he looked towards Asuna as Asuna greeted him with a warm, gentle hug, as Kazuto moved to kiss her happily as he closed and locked the door behind himself.

"So… Any updates on the mystery entity?" Kazuto asked his fiancé, as Asuna shook her head.

"No, but your sister made a new friend online; she keeps insisting she wants to just be friends with him, but I'm not certain; she looked ready to confess her love early before even a first date." Asuna brought up, as Kazuto groaned.

"Greaaat… First Nobuyuki moves in upstairs, and now my sis is dealing with a stranger… Sheesh at least with Nobuyuki he otherwise stays out of my face even if he doesn't shut up in the slightest about whatever he's referring to with this "Chronicler" he speaks of and how he keeps insisting everyone else is to blame for him losing a flash drive one day and never having shut up about it since…" Kazuto brought up, as Asuna looked rather shocked but quickly regained her composure.

'Hold on… Suguha befriended a guy named Chronicler on Sword Art Online… But from what Kazuto has told me Nobuyuki has next to nothing to do with that game… Odd coincidence?' Asuna thought to herself, all the while Kazuto moved to sit on the couch and sigh a bit.

"Trust me don't even get me started on how Nobuyuki got into a big argument over me regarding the MaterialEye I got a hold of for Suguha. He kept trying to get in my way of talking with my boss to where I was just about ready to grab him by the head and snap his-"

"OKAY! You need to calm down after the mere news alone he's living upstairs now, Kazuto…" Asuna brought up, as a call came in from Ryōtarō and Rika, as Asuna answered the call with her large monitor in the living room.

"Oi, Asuna? How's the look out on the mysterious entity?" Rika brought up, as Asuna sighed.

"Nothing new; we're just about ready to settle down for the night. Why?" Asuna answered, as Rika sighed.

"Shino's going to be kind of disappointed if she doesn't get in on the action Kazuto got into earlier. She'll LOVE to fire a few shots at that aberration's face if it even has one…" Ryōtarō said, as Rika gasped a bit as she recalled something.

"Still, though, according to Shino, she saw a possible candidate for the entity's identity and talked to him before encounter Suguha; according to herself and the candidate in question, the name of the entity may in fact be Chronicler." Rika said, as Asuna blinked.

"Anything else we know before we decide to fire blind accusations to the guy when Shino finds him again?" Asuna asked, as Rika nodded.

"Yes, actually; until we know what his stats and capabilities are, we're not even remotely going to try and attack him. The closest we have to any of his stats are his Level of 60, but that's just about it." Rika brought up, as Asuna sighed.

"Alright; either Kazuto or myself will help you guys tomorrow with tracking him down, but since neither of us have the MaterialEye, we won't be able to directly take in part with an actual fight." Asuna answered.

"I agree; Shino will need everyone she knows who has access to it to help with the fight." Kazuto brought up, as Rika was busy texting up a message to her phone as Ryōtarō looked at her.

"… What are you doing, dear?"

"… Alright, Shino says we might have to worry about a guy named a guy named Sugou Nobuyuki. Apparently the last person to detect the mysterious entity was treated to the thing actually speaking, and hoo boy, let me just say we do not want this Nobuyuki guy even remotely near the mystery being." Rika brought up.

"Why?" Asuna, Kazuto, and Ryōtarō brought up in confusion.

"The mysterious glitch will not stop at anything until Nobuyuki drops dead… Right now, we don't know why though…"

Downstairs, after having eaten dinner, Suguha had already finished with cleaning herself up as she was now asleep in bed. As Suguha slept, everything in her room was quiet save for a clock in her room. Within a moment, the normally absent, but present sound of the movement of electronic circuits could be heard in a part of her room.

Materializing into a semi-physical form, appeared to be the frenzied eye form of Chronicler appearing directly in her room. As Chronicler looked over Suguha in her sleep with his eyes looking rather enraged, Chronicler moved to grab his chest as he felt ready to double over in severe pain, falling onto his knee as he did. However, what he heard next calmed him down as he moved to stand.

"Chronicler… I promise you… I will not let you be alone with this condition of yours…" Suguha muttered in her sleep, all the while Chronicler's frenzied eyes dissipated into his calm eyes as he zoned out from whatever he was feeling a moment ago. Quickly dissipating back into virtual form and vanishing from the room directly, Suguha slightly opened her eyes before Chronicler completely disappeared.

Moving to sit up to look as to where Chronicler was, Suguha gasped a bit as she snapped herself awake.

"… Chronicler… Was… Was that him I saw briefly…?"


	6. Chapter 5: Reintroduction

It was a quiet morning on a new day. Suguha, having school to attend this very day, was not in Sword Art Online as she was quietly seated in class earlier than the other students would be. Writing down answers on a test she has been given for today, she was quietly thinking on the back of her mind about the day before. She had a lot to think about on her mind, truthfully, especially with the test, but she couldn't get chronicler off of her mind ever since she woke up before coming here.

Admittedly, Chronicler's strong yet fragile nature did leave a bit of an impact on her, but now she was beginning to get mixed signals about it once Asuna had told her how the two of them had sounded. Did she really feel like she was flirting with Chronicler? Now that she thought of it, she wondered if anything Chronicler did was also flirting in his own way.

Now that she thought about it, Chronicler's desire to help her through the early game could be interpreted as such; how he shilled out money for her, helped her get fully prepared, among other things. All of which he had helped her with she could've simply grinded for herself on her own accord. She wondered to herself if Chronicler had another reason to befriend her.

Admittedly, it was clear that Chronicler wasn't an ordinary individual and took things very seriously, at least from how she saw it. She began to wonder exactly as to what she saw when she went to bed, though. She could've sworn she had seen Chronicler very briefly, but she wasn't exactly certain. All she could tell was that she could vaguely remember Chronicler's voice.

And how he didn't sound like he was in the best condition; he sounded like he was in pain.

As Suguha finished with her studies early and began to head home, on her way out from school she noticed someone clear as day outside. Wearing a green shirt and a turquoise set of pants, and wearing a cuff on his left knee, looked a rather upset kid around her own age. The oddest part about the person, however, was that not only did he have the same hair and skinny structure as Chronicler, but he even had the same eyes…

"C-Chronicler…?" Suguha muttered under her breath as she quietly observed the boy in question. However, even with the uncanny resemblance to Chronicler, Suguha did not want to risk talking to the boy as if it was him after all. Truth be told, even with Sword Art Online's customization options allowing for one to recreate themselves in the game, Suguha wasn't sure how to react to Chronicler's doppelganger aside from walking over towards the bench he was sitting on.

"Um, excuse me?" Suguha started, as the boy looked over towards her, as he blinked a bit with a gaze that Suguha shudder a bit. He reminded her so much of Chronicler with that gaze alone and-

"S-Sure, you can sit here…" He spoke up. Even his voice sounded a lot like Chronicler, but Suguha disregarded it at the momenta as she moved to have a seat beside him. Silence filled the air around the two as the boy didn't directly try and look at her aside from a quick glance.

"My name is Kirigaya Suguha… What is yours?" Suguha introduced in hopes of breaking the awkward silence, as she looked straight at the boy in hopes he would answer. The boy blushed a bit shyly, as he looked rather timid before answering.

"Damion Eriksen… t-that is who I am…" The boy answered. From what Suguha could tell, he was clearly new here; even the way he spoke Japanese was rather broken here and there. As Suguha took a moment to let that sink in, she offered her hand for Damion to shake in a polite gesture.

"It's nice to meet you, Damion. I take it you're new to this country?" Suguha asked if merely to see which name he'd address her by first. Damion blushed a bit as he cautiously moved to take hold of Suguha's hand to shake. Suguha could tell by Damion's grasp as to the familiarity of Chronicler's slight discomfort when she had taken hold of his hand yesterday.

"I-It's nice to meet you as well, Suguha…" Damion answered.

' _Oh thank god he answered correctly.'_ Suguha thought to herself briefly, before sighing a bit once she let go of Damion's hand, as Suguha noticed the armored gauntlets covering his hands, again just like Chronicler. "Um… If you don't mind me asking, but why do you wear gloves so heavily armored like those?" Suguha asked, as Damion flinched a bit as his expression looked panicked at her question.

"I-It's better you wouldn't know just yet; that's kind of a little too personal right now…" Damion told Suguha, as Suguha sighed.

"Could you tell me something about yourself that isn't too personal?" Suguha asked, as Damion looked at her and sighed.

"I-I'd rather not bother you at all; I don't need for somebody to worry about me, when I already have somebody else who had promised she would look after me…" Damion told her, as he lightly chuckled to himself as he sounded like he was hiding how let down with his current state made him.

"Though, if it isn't too much to ask since nobody has really paid attention to me thus far…" Damion began, as he slowly moved to forcefully lift up his left leg up to rest on his lap, as he showed Suguha right next to him the cuff on his knee. "Would it be too much to ask if you could be the first to sign this today?" Damion asked Suguha. Suguha, having been familiar with the nature of these cuffs, slowly moved to take out a pen and sign her name on it; she struggled with it, but she chose to sign her name in English for as damned of an effort as she could.

She could already see in her mind as to how much she must've botched it up, but Suguha didn't really care and instead took notice of Damion's skinny condition. "Are you sure you don't want me to treat you out to something to eat as lunch for a while? You look like you could really need it." Suguha asked Damion, as Damion looked at her and blinked as he slowly set his leg back down on the ground.

"A-Are you sure? I don't want to feel like a b-burden to somebody else knowing Lea-" Damion could feel Suguha move to place a finger on his lips as she quietly hushed him, though the gesture made Damion blush more.

"Leafa… Is that the name of a girl you met somewhere around here?" Suguha didn't want to automatically assume that Damion was referring to her avatar; she needed to be dead certain that Damion and Chronicler were one in the same before she even remotely drew that comparison.

"… Drop the pretenses, please…" Damion asked, as his gaze looked a tiny bit hostile to it as Damion eyed Suguha more carefully, as Suguha blinked.

"W-What do you mean, D-Damion?" Suguha asked, as Damion was quick to suddenly, but carefully, move to embrace her fully; for all of the blushing Damion was doing, now it was Suguha's turn to blush.

"I already know it's you, Leafa… My eyes do not lie to me… How long did you try to pretend it wasn't me; Chronicler?" Damion asked, as Suguha silently gasped as Damion let her go, as his expression looked more upset all of a sudden, as Damion could see the slight touch of fear on Suguha's expression.

"C-Chroni…"

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have done that so soon!" Damion said as he moved to stand as his left leg was beginning to hurt him with such an immense amount of pain, allowing for Suguha to quickly rush up to Damion and grab hold of him to help stabilize his movements... though that was far from the only thing she'd need to stabilize him for next.

"Damion, you're hurt! Just don't move so suddenly, please!" Suguha spoke, as Damion slightly moved to force Suguha to let go of him, as Suguha quickly reaffirmed her stance to quickly try and help Damion when she saw him cringe and his whole body recoil in pain all at once.

"Damion! Hold on!" Suguha said to him as she looked around to try and call for help once she saw Damion beginning to cough up blood… but with what she saw next she didn't think that wouldn't even be possible with the way her eyes suddenly froze to gaze upon Damion as they widened with absolutely shock.

Damion, his body beginning to fade into molecules of some form, glowed an immense, shining light as his body was beginning to fade out of existence as a whole yet again, just as Suguha just barely saw when she had thought she saw Chronicler in her room last night. As she snapped out of her trance, Suguha was quick to rush forward and grab Damion from behind in a hug to try and force him to not leave her.

As Damion tried what he could to shake Suguha off, Suguha could very faintly hear Damion screaming in a complete panic; yelling for Suguha to stay behind and remain safe as she could be, and that she didn't need to pressure herself to help him any further, be it as herself or Leafa.

"No! You need help, Damion!"

"I don't want you to die because of this, Leafa!" Damion yelled at Suguha in a desperate attempt to shake her off still, only for his body dissipating into molecules to suddenly cause Suguha's body to experience the same effect going on, as both of their bodies were now glowing with a bright intensity as both of their bodies began to fade away from reality itself and into molecular forms. Before they both knew it, the two had disappeared completely from the campus of the private school, as Suguha didn't open her eyes except for witnessing her whole uniform transform and shift into that of her avatar Leafa, even acquiring her own weapons and other equipment as well, as Damion's body, despite being Chronicler, didn't for some reason chance into the appearance of Chronicler as she saw yesterday.

As Leafa looked around in shock as to the incredibly bizarre, alien world of the wire-like networks surrounding her in a white void, Damion, near soullessly, dragged himself along as he the world around himself and the still holding on Suguha translated into an unknown, virtual world; various, hexagonal shapes transforming the scene from the white void and networks shown into the beautiful, lush morning scenery of the a massive, grassland covered plains before the two of them.

As Suguha took everything in, she could only do one thing; scream in absolute terror as to what exactly she had just experienced for a moment there. The entire process of being converted into virtual matter just left her whole body recoiling a tiny bit from the severe pain of it, as she collapsed onto the ground just as Damion twisted around and took the full blunt of the fall for her as she fell awkwardly into his grasp on the ground.

"L-Leafa… Are you alright? I know it hurts when that happens, but even then, you shouldn't have forced yourself to follow me here!" Damion asked, only to be slapped by Suguha as Suguha moved to sit in her spot properly.

"First off, I know you mean well and you're innocent, but don't touch me like THAT!" Suguha noted, before adding in, "And you can call me Suguha know that you know Leafa and I are one in the same. Do you want me to call you Chronicler still?" Suguha had admitted in her mind that she probably sounded like a complete tsundere with how much of a whiplash her mood went from aggressive to worrying at the blink of an eye, but that didn't bug her just yet.

"You can continue to call me Chronicler while we're here, but back in your world, you need to call me Damion, just for the sake of avoiding people from finding me… Alright?" Damion asked, as Suguha nodded.

"Got it; call you Chronicler while we're here and then Damion back in the real world… but, er, speaking of that… where exactly IS here, anyways?" Suguha asked, as she was helped onto her feet by Chronicler as Chronicler grabbed a flowering plant nearby and whistled into it briefly.

"I figured you would recognize it, Leafa, but since you're new to seeing the real deal in the flesh like this, perhaps you need a reintroduction anyways…" Chronicler noted, as before the two of them, a wild horse moved to show itself from the tall grass; staring over towards the two directly, Suguha's eyes widened as she saw the horse's pretty appearance. It was a big one, just like Chronicler's own, but it had an air of friendliness to it compared to Chronicler's more stoic horse.

The horse, with its very Dalmatian-like, leopard complex colored coat making it a noteworthy mare, moved over towards Suguha very slowly as Suguha, in turn, moved very slowly towards the horse as well. As Suguha moved towards the horse and touched its snout around its nose, she moved to carefully pet the mare to try and earn its affection back from it in turn. The mare snorted a little bit towards Suguha, but Suguha was quick to look around towards the massive field of grass around her.

Using her sword from her Leafa avatar to cut a bundle of the grass together and into a bundle for herself to hold onto, she was quick to lift it in front of the mare to get her attention and feed her the cut loose grass, as the mare simply stared at her for a while. After several seconds, the mare began to eat from the grass cut for her, all the while Suguha was silently, and gently, petting the mare's nose again. As the mare finished eating and reared up, a saddle materialized onto her back as the mare moved to stand on all fours and turned itself to have her side face Suguha.

"Now then, I figured I'd get this mount reward I promised you out of the way before we tried getting you back home." Chronicler pointed out, as Suguha giggled a bit as she walked up to Chronicler with a bit of a bounce in her step to give him a quick, but mostly reassuring, hug for both herself and Chronicler to help calm down as to what was going on. Admittedly, though, Chronicler didn't it need it at the time, but he rolled with it for Suguha's sake.

"Alright, but are you certain it will work?" Suguha asked, as Chronicler shrugged, all the while politely gesturing Suguha to head back over to her now owned Knabstrupper horse. As Suguha walked over back towards her mare, she was quietly resting her hand onto her shoulder as she listened to what Chronicler had to say.

"If it managed to bring you here like this, I'm dead certain it will… but the problem lies more in the fact I need my body to rest for once due to the fact the materialization program takes too much energy from my system for me to use in such a short amount of time… In the meantime, I suggest mounting your horse and following me; I know exactly where we'll need to go for me to regain the type of energy I need for a second trip so soon, and spoiler warning; the city isn't it." Chronicler said as he lightly poked in thin air to materialize his own, massive stallion into view as Chronicler quietly mounted his horse and began to lead Leafa out of the plains and towards the nearest forested region he could determine from his point of view.

"But, er, Chronicler, you still didn't answer my question… Is this where I currently think it is?" Suguha asked, as she had mounted her horse as Chronicler told her and raced after him; her own mare much faster than Chronicler's beast of a shire, all the while Chronicler chuckled a bit.

"Well then, my dear Leafa, Suguha, whichever one you prefer I call you while we're here… Normally I'd let the game tell you that, but due to where we're going to seek a moment to rest or two, allow me to formally introduce you, the second instance in which a human of the real world had ever managed stepped foot in this place…" Chronicler told Suguha as they rode through the plains, as the lush scenery of the plains was quick to quiet down in terms of the equally beautiful scenery being a river carved range of mountains from which Chronicler and his steed stopped before as did Suguha and her mare. Looking out into the beauty of the forests before them down below the mountainous cliffs before them, marked further by the waterfall right next to them, Suguha finally moved to speak.

"Wow... It's so beautiful here... But, er, Chronicler, I would still appreciate an answer as to where I am... You may address me by Suguha whenever I'm here like this, though..." Suguha answered, as Chronicler looked towards her and chuckled lightly as he took in the beauty of the forests below as to slowly begin to lead his horse down the mountain's trail, as Suguha silently moved her mare to follow as she took in the sheer beauty of everything much more than how Chronicler did if merely because, unlike with her experience as Leafa, everything was legitimately real for her now more than it ever was beforehand.

"Very well then, Suguha; welcome to Sword Art Online."


	7. Chapter 6: Materialize

It would've been minutes had it not been for seconds having merely passed instead. The words from Chronicler couldn't have been any clearer to Suguha; she was physically inside the video game she was playing just a day beforehand, and now so many questions were waiting to be answered. So far, however, Suguha had one thing on her mind as Chronicler escorted her down the side of the cliff on their respective horses.

"Why do we have to go this place specifically? It shouldn't be all that hard for you to just return to a town or city and have your energy revitalized there, isn't it?" Suguha asked as she followed Chronicler, as Chronicler looked back with her with a serious gaze.

"I gave you just enough time to let go of me when I began to virtualize away from the area, and now you need to begin to realize the full consequences of having chosen to continue trying to be my friend far worse than any other player of this game would've had it." Chronicler began to tell Suguha.

"What do you mean, Chronicler? What exactly are you even supposed to be? With an ability like yours, you sound like you're a-"

"Military project? Governmental experiment? Scientific lab rat? Well, truth be told… All three could be very well accurate but at the same time none at all… But most of the details are obscure to me outside of a few simple rules in my programming…" Chronicler told Suguha, all the while Suguha forcefully had her mare move faster just enough to get ahead of Chronicler, serving as a blockade for the moment.

"… Tell me everything I need to know." Suguha demanded from Chronicler, all the while Chronicler sighed a bit as her bold action took a toll on his senses; specifically when Suguha backed off with her aggressive gaze when she saw how hellish Chronicler's pupils turn, forming into very cat-like slits.

"You're very lucky you're willing to go through what you're being unwittingly getting involved in, but do not alarm my senses like that again; the Predator Eyes do not like sudden disturbances like that." Chronicler told off Suguha, as he forced himself back from making a move by grasping at his own chest and face due to intense pain he was beginning to feel again.

"… But if you want an explanation, I would rather not speak it while we're still within range of a public communication channel." Chronicler informed Suguha, to which his own shire suddenly showed more hostility towards Suguha's mare as he reared up while moving his front legs to force her out of the way. The mare stepped aside, respecting the shire's age as the larger horse of the two led the way into an oddly formed veil over the forest once they were far enough down the trail.

After passing through Chronicler first began his explanation on the oddity that they had just had to pass through.

"The game has a system designed in it to prevent you from joining the party of suspicious players; this isn't an ordinary MMO where there are two factions or more that fight against each other, but rather, much of the conflict takes place within the various factions themselves." Chronicler continued, as they were now deep enough in the cliffs for Suguha to try and attempt to examine some of the nearby birds to scan them…

Absolutely nothing; the game didn't even seem to register her as using her Leafa avatar for that matter, even though she had the equipment and gear from that avatar with her now.

"Where we're beginning to enter is what some players refer to as a glitch location called a "Dead Zone" because of the fact their avatars would normally perish instantly upon entering such a place… Those with the MaterialEye, on the other hand, have easy access to an indicator that this game isn't all that it seems on the surface." Chronicler continued to elaborate, as now the horses were both on equal footing with the ground now being able to be reached and being able to set foot into the forest.

"A solid year before SAO even launched as a video game, it was a dormant world for what appeared to be decades at a time; 1974 is the date when this secret world first began, and lay dormant within all of Network ever since its creation." Chronicler began to detail, as the sound coming from the nearby birds suddenly went silent as Chronicler and Suguha made their passage through the area.

Some of the wildlife, in the form of various extinct animals of recent years barring an odd, reptile-like avian which stuck close to the tree tops, and the presence of various Dinosaurs; all of which the same species, but many differing versions of it all the same. Some small, some big; some feathered, some scaled. Despite their predatory nature, they all seemed wary of the presence of Chronicler and his shire.

Some of them, though, were quick to attempt to trail behind in pursuit of Suguha and her horse, but a quick glance from Chronicler with his eyes turning hellish to all of them quickly had them recoiling in some odd form of pain around their heads, before all of them fled from behind Suguha. Suguha took notice of this very quickly, but remained silent as to let Chronicler finish; it was clear to her the creatures wouldn't waste time going after her had it not been for Chronicler being near. Suguha only just before this realized something about them.

None of the creatures had any actual eyes.

"I was told various things as a child; how I was all part of a big plan. I was never told any of the truth until about three months prior; that I was the ultimate prototype of a weapon that had long outlived its original purpose, and that my older "brother" was the dormant form of the very weapon in its final version. We both had an inherit ability in common; to disrupt communication channels unhindered by any type of defense mechanism against us." Chronicler began to tell the story of his own creation, as Suguha's eyes were wide as to the prospect of what exactly required Chronicler's creation.

"I would prefer you to know the full tale, but I can only recall so few of it; all that remains I can directly remember are what my older "sibling" behaved like in comparison to myself." Chronicler said, as he dismounted his horse, but did so in a manner as lifted himself into the air to float, before, seemingly teleporting as he did, moved over to Suguha with his eyes intensely locked into their slit pupiled forms, vibrations being felt by Suguha as he showed these eyes to her.

But the impression he gave towards her specifically was benevolent; an innocent soul trying to defend both himself and whomever he desired to protect. Suguha didn't budge; she was trusting Chronicler enough based off of their past interaction to allow him this close to her, as while Chronicler couldn't exactly see it, Suguha felt an odd feeling she couldn't determine just yet, not until she asked something.

"Then what was your "brother" like?" Suguha asked, as Chronicler backed away from Suguha to give her some room, but otherwise kept her and both of their horses in his sights; the shire leading the way forward as Chronicler levitated in the air.

"My brother was hostile by nature; he was aggressive, I would submit to practically every command I was given because I was never given a choice; he would immediately lash out at whoever remotely attempted to boss him around. That's how we both functioned back in the day, and the experiments done on him, codenamed "MIRROR M", were the most hellish information files I had access to during the breakout three months prior." Chronicler resumed his explanation towards Suguha.

"My brother was designed with much more power than logic should dictate a life-form to have by nature; he and I shared that in common; but then came the differences. I was raised much like an ordinary human child up until my 18th birthday, raised in isolation from my older brother's hostile behavior, which I was only innocently aware of in my youth… The breakout occurred, and my memory is fuzzy on the exact details aside from various workers having tried to kill me as they thought I was him." Chronicler told Suguha, as up ahead neared a blue lighting to the otherwise dark forest.

"My brother lunged at me with his jaws open wide, and when I thought I was gone; I was not. I should've been dead, but I was stuck between his throat and his jaws as my left limbed had formed an extension of itself to avoid my own fate. I should've been dead, but my brother shook violently to try and force me out. As he did, he exhaled a powerful energy which forced me out at the cost of both of my hands; I saw the damage to my brother, with his left eye completely destroyed as a result of the incident. All I could recall next was my brother lunging at me again as his arm suddenly transformed in shape, before everything went completely blank."

Chronicler was quiet, as he hovered over towards a small pond from which the stone, alongside two others now visible were keep in isolation and stillness, glowed in the whole area and warded the creatures off when Suguha had entered upon dismounting her horse.

"This very spot is all I can remember as to where I had awoken; I was initially unaware of what had happened, but I do believe a man with your last name is the result of this; what was his name? Kirigaya Ken?" Chronicler asked, as Suguha gasped.

"DAD?! B-But…" Suguha had stuttered a bit, before her fists clenched together in the sudden anger she know felt all at once, as Chronicler stood in the small pond where Suguha was stepping towards; his gaze turned back to normal as he suddenly looked terrified of Suguha's aggression.

"I should've known… My brother always, ALWAYS said he absolutely hated him to no end… He always told me stories about how he'd get into arguments about how Ken was performing experiments that were unethical; even my brother's co-worker absolutely reviled the experiments being done, because my brother always told me it involved an-" Suguha suddenly snapped out of her aggressive state, as she looked rather teary eyed all of a sudden.

"C-Chronicler… What did he do to you?! What the hell did he make you into?!" Suguha asked, as she looked ready to cry with her questioning, as Chronicler was still too busy scared for his own life in the small pool know that Suguha put two and two together.

"I-I don't know… I don't want to know what he did to me… All I could recall vaguely was that the foster parents looking after me did everything they could to ensure I solely wouldn't end up like my brother; he said he absolutely wanted to ensure I would stay innocent regardless of his influences…" Chronicler told Suguha, as he didn't know how to put it otherwise. Suguha suddenly rushed over to Chronicler and hugged him, Chronicler having attempted to bolt away from her in sheer panic as he was beginning to yell and scream for his life. Suguha was absolutely shocked by this, immediately backing off of Chronicler only for him to not slow down with his panic.

"C-C-Chronicler… I-I didn't know that…" Suguha was trying to apologize, as it was clear Chronicler wasn't snapping out of it any time soon. Suguha knew that Chronicler was far beyond her in terms of power and capabilities based off of what she was told and what Chronicler was able to show; Chronicler could've very easily killed her had he been remotely like his brother, and Suguha had recoiled as the thought of having accidentally triggered the most painful memory Chronicler had told her about.

"LET GO OF ME _LET GO OF ME_ _ **LET. GO. OF ME!"**_ The outbursts Chronicler was having, as he was saying those four words repeatedly, shook the entire environment as his words began to intensity in audio to where Chronicler was repeatedly slamming his fists against the ground in a childish tantrum; the event was terrifying for Suguha to watch; this wasn't a monstrous killer despite the fact Chronicler clearly had the power to be such; the ground shook immensely as Chronicler's outbursts continued, all the while Suguha was trying to find some way for Chronicler to calm down as his outbursts became increasingly powerful by the second.

"Chronicler! Snap out of it! I'm your friend, Leafa! I'm not hurting you! PLEASE SNAP OUT OF IT!" Suguha yelled for Chronicler to try and listen to her, all the while Chronicler eventually slowed in his outburst and overwhelming power surge, all the while Chronicler was reduced to a miserable wreck on the water ground, completely left sobbing as he moved to hug himself out of sheer desperation. Suguha, slowly, and incredibly cautiously, waited things out before she would even remotely attempt to approach.

"L-Leafa…" Chronicler eventually, but quietly, spoke out, his voice in utter disbelief of her name, as Suguha slowly tried to approach now. "I-I-I'm so sorry… You didn't need to be involved in this… You were innocent until I showed up…" Chronicler, rather weakly, spoke, all the while Suguha slowly moved to approach him. She was quietly beginning to hum an unusual tune to try and see if that made her presence any better for Chronicler.

"You didn't deserve to know of my pain… You didn't deserve any of what I had forced you into…" Chronicler's sobbing slowed to mere crying, as Suguha was still gentle with her approach as she moved herself lower as to not given any form of intimidating form to Chronicler. As she was closed enough to sit down in behind him, Suguha was slowly with having her reach out to, gently and reassuringly, place a hand on Chronicler's back and softly begin to rub him to sooth his pained heart he was feeling at the moment. Chronicler, slowly turning to look at Suguha, looked broken as Suguha moved a little bit closer to have both of her hands rub his shoulders.

"Chronicler… Look at me… Look at me when I say this to you, okay?" Suguha asked Chronicler, as Chronicler looked towards Suguha's face; his eyes showing a lot of discomfort but regardless, he paid close attention to her.

"It's my own fault for this, Chronicler; you're blaming yourself when you're the victim of a madman's abusive behavior towards not an entity with a vast amount of power, but a living, breathing person who has needs just like any other person would… You need to be treated to a normal life; you need to be free of this virtual world; I'm not wanting to leave you alone, I'm going to take care of you…" Suguha told Chronicler, as Chronicler still looked incredibly upset but otherwise touched by Suguha's words; watching as Suguha slowly approached to allow herself to place her head against his chest so she could listen for anything in an unintended embrace on him.

She didn't mind the fact that Chronicler slowly, but certainly, moved to return the embrace, as Suguha could hear and feel Chronicler's movements; he was far from a monster from what her dad had attempted to hide him behind; his beating heart, his kindness towards her, and the fact he's cowardly when he's so much as remotely provoked by anything he deemed a legitimate threat, the mere fact alone he views Suguha as a bigger threat than any of the strange wildlife in this area. All of that proved to Suguha that Chronicler was an innocent soul who needed to be treated carefully.

"I'm going to stay by your side, Chronicler; I'm going to have you stay with me and be free of that madman." Suguha told Chronicler, all the while Chronicler gulped a bit nervously in response.

"But what about-"

"He can't go near me or my mom, or even my brother Kazuto without violating the restraining orders against him; he will not be able to get anywhere near you…" Suguha told Chronicler as she felt herself relax in Chronicler's embrace.

"… But… But what about your mom and brother…?" Chronicler asked, as his voice was finally beginning to calm down.

"We'll explain to them who you are, and why you're there; let's just go home for now, okay? We both need to rest after this experience…" Suguha mentioned, as Chronicler had noticed she was now aware of the healing properties of this pond; he didn't say anything on the matter, other than leaning his forehead against hers as he began to focus during the embrace. Both of their molecules began to dissipate into the air and vanish from the virtual, hidden realm underneath SAO, and soon enough, the two were beginning to materialize back into Suguha's bedroom as dusk was beginning to approach.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you so long as I live, Damion… I'll be there to protect you…"


	8. Chapter 7: Thesis

At Ryōtarō's house, Rika was fast asleep in one of the guest bedrooms, as her phone began to ring which caused her to stir and wake up. As Rika moved to grasp her phone sleepily, she looked at the caller ID and saw that Keiko was finally calling to check up on things.

"Finally that bitch answers after ignoring us all day prior." Rika muttered in her groggy tone, before answering the phone, "Hello?"

"Yes, Rika? It's me; Keiko." Keiko cheerfully brought up, as Rika groaned.

"So you finally answer. What took you so long?" Rika asked.

"I live in France now due to taking studies over here, that's why. Don't you remember me moving away for this?" Keiko spoke up, as Rika sighed.

"Whatever, do you have any updates on what you were able to find on the mysterious patron we tried to message you about?" Rika asked.

"Not yet, but let me just say things are getting bat shit insane up in France for some odd reason; some kind of mutant of a person having been spotted here!" Keiko answered back, as Rika raised an eye.

"… What do you mean?"

"Some kind of blond; he has a huge scar around his left eye, completely blinded there as well." Keiko spoke up, as Rika blinked.

"Do you have any photographs?" Rika asked as her curiosity was piqued.

"Sadly, no… But I do have something else related to that." Keiko brought up, as she texted on her phone and sent Rika a file. As Rika received the file, she was quiet as she looked at it and it showed some form of blueprints for an artificial, human-like entity with angelic wings and divine armor.

Its codename was registered as "CHRONICLER".

Meanwhile, after a rough encounter in the virtual world, Suguha took a brief moment to lie down in her bed and rest for a while. The day was still going on, and the sun had yet to set, so she was just resting to recover the slight sting she had felt from materializing back into real life. Damion, meanwhile, simply lay against the wall beside her bed; Suguha had insisted Damion lay down in her bed in her place, but Damion insisted she kept the bed and he'd be fine with the floor.

As Suguha was beginning to wake up from her nap, she slowly opened her eyes and looked beside herself and saw Damion against the wall. Smiling a bit, she slowly moved to get up and out of bed, before quietly moving to take the blanket on her bed and wrapping it around Damion. She could tell he was tired, so she simply made sure he was comfortable before moving to grab her cell phone, dialing the number of her soon to be sister-in-law.

"Hello? Asuna? Do you think you and my brother could come on over here real quick? We… we need to talk." Suguha spoke up, as Asuna picked up the phone on her own end to answer back.

"Suguha? Is something going on?" Asuna asked.

"Do you remember how when my brother would sometimes come home from work and mention AIs of some sort being abused?" Suguha spoke up, to which this got Kazuto's attention from the other end of the phone with Asuna.

"Yes? What about it?"

"Do you remember the one codenamed 'Chronicler'?" Suguha asked, as Kazuto looked relatively stunned for a moment as he looked at Asuna, who nodded in response.

"Let's head down."

"Right."

With Kazuto and Asuna heading downstairs in the apartment complex, they were greeted by Kazuto and Suguha's mother walking out.

"Kazuto-san, could you be a dear and keep an eye out should Ken try and enter the area?" His mother asked of him, as Kazuto blinked.

"Why, wouldn't he be jailed if he even remotely came near us and- it's because of Nobuyuki being on the top floor isn't it?" Kazuto interrupted himself, as his mother nodded. Kazuto sighed as he took that much in.

"… I'll keep an eye out for him, then." Kazuto said, as his mother nodded before heading off wearing business attire, taking her leave all the while Kazuto and Asuna walked inside towards Suguha's room. "So then, sis, you claim to have encountered Chronicler online and- OH MY how the heck did he get out of there?!" Kazuto noted as he shut himself up on seeing the snoozing, physical form of Damion himself as he was left dumbfounded at the site. As Asuna got a glance of Damion, she too was speechless by the sight of him.

"I truly don't know how he was able to physically manifest; I always thought he was an ordinary human just experiencing a glitch when I first met him. I didn't consider that he was anything more than that." Suguha mentioned, as Kazuto slowly walked over towards Chronicler to have a look at him. Noticing how skinny he looked, Kazuto looked over towards Asuna.

"Could you begin preparing dinner? Chronicler will need to work on gaining a good portion of weight at this rate." Kazuto asked, as Asuna nodded.

"Large amounts of protein in his meals; got it." Asuna said as she walked out of the room, but stopped at the door before she did. "But, er, please don't overdo yourself or startle him alright? I can already tell he's the kind of guy prone to panicking a lot." Asuna mentioned, as Kazuto nodded. With Asuna leaving the bedroom to prepare dinner for everyone, Kazuto backed away from Damion as he sighed.

"Well then, Suguha, looks like you've managed to nail quite a boy in your life now with Chronicler." Kazuto mentioned, as Suguha blushed.

"For starters, call him Damion, second, he's not my boyfriend… yet…" Suguha said to her older brother, as she silently whispered the last bit under her breath. Kazuto snickered a little as he calmed himself down.

"Heh, didn't think so. At least, not this soon after you have just met him for the first time that is." Kazuto said, as he looked as Damion was still fast asleep. "I'm still going to worry about his safety; I know he may not be entirely human, but he's human enough to where he doesn't deserve whatever treatment dad must've been putting him through." Kazuto spoke out loud, mostly to himself, but also to reassure Suguha a little in that, as far as he could tell so far, Damion's not a "monstrous killing machine" like how he had heard Nobuyuki refer to him as at work.

Slowly beginning to wake up, Damion simply stirring caused every electronic device in the room hooked up to an internet connection, phone service, or any other communication network to act oddly. All of these devices, for a brief moment, suddenly powered down as Damion opened his eyes and calmly blinked; the devices turned back on as Damion was completely oblivious to the fact, but Damion slowly began to look troubled.

"Kazuto, is it?" Damion spoke up. Kazuto, looking directly at Damion and in plain view, simply nodded. He may not have viewed Damion in such a way as Nobuyuki did, but the rather abrupt display of power was proof enough for Kazuto that he needed to be absolutely cautious around Damion. With the look of an innocent, if not angst driven, 18 year old as he was at the moment, he was normal; but Kazuto now knew that Damion's rumored "communication disruption ability" was indeed true even if Damion didn't seem to actively showcase control of it like how he showed it when confronting Suguha earlier that day.

"Hey, uh, Suguha… Do you think you could show Damion around to help him become familiar with everything?" Kazuto asked, all the while Damion simply remained seated against the wall he was resting against. Damion looked around as his eyes adjusted to the setting he was in; he seemed to have forgotten the fact he had chosen to stay here with Suguha.

"… Um… By any chance is there anything I can eat…?" Damion brought up, as Kazuto nodded.

"Yeah; my fiancé is cooking right now, so once she's done preparing food we'll all have something to eat." Kazuto quietly and calmly talked to Damion; his tone seemed to be what one would hear when talking to a scared child. Suguha remained quiet on the matter, but she knew after what she had seen, Damion was much more sensitive than he lets himself known to be.

As Damion moved to stand, he still felt as his left leg was in pain around where the bracer was, as Damion decided to quickly get over with it as he gritted his teeth from the initial pain of trying to stand. Sucking it in and trying to keep his composure, Damion levitated into the air to allow himself to float back down onto the ground into a standing position.

"A-Alright…" Damion finally answered, as Suguha walked over towards him to quietly offer him her hand for him to take. Damion eyed her; concerned for her safety; nevertheless, though, he quietly took her hand as Suguha led him out of her own bedroom. Kazuto quietly did the same and turned off the light in the bedroom before shutting the door.

As Damion was looking around the apartment, he could see various portraits on the wall on the other side of the kitchen; multiple photographs of a younger Suguha standing beside a miniature pony in some, alongside a group photograph with her, her and Kazuto's mother, as well as a few of Suguha's relatives. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but Damion's eyes formed into slits for a brief second upon quickly glancing at a photograph with Suguha and Kazuto's father present; a black haired man much like his son and daughter, and having lengthy hair tied together in the back.

"Is something wrong?" Asuna asked Damion, as Damion stuttered a bit with trying to get a word out properly.

"Um… er… nothing; nothing's wrong…" Damion answered back; he didn't want to disturb anyone, so he waited patiently for his meal by trying to occupy himself with his surroundings. Admittedly he knew he wouldn't be staying here overly long, and that it would've been temporary, but he still wanted to take everything in.

In the living room, he could see Suguha with the MaterialEye on herself, all the while Damion smiled a bit to himself as he looked for Kazuto. Kazuto, standing by the front door of the apartment, simply sighed as he noticed as Damion was walking over towards him, prompting him to smile towards him.

"Oh, hey, did you need anything?" Kazuto asked Damion, as Damion was simply quiet for the moment as his expression looked slightly anxious at the moment, to which Kazuto noticed. "Do you need to step out for a moment?" Kazuto asked, to which Damion gave a small nod towards, to which Kazuto stepped outside into the colder afternoon along with Damion following behind him.

On the front yard of the apartment complex, Kazuto watched as Damion maintained his distance from Kazuto for a good moment; watching as the young teen gazed out silently onto the main street and surrounding buildings. Sighing a bit quietly, it wasn't long before Kazuto found himself searching through his pockets for something as he was quick to pull out a lighter.

"Smoking habit I take it?" Damion noticed the mere instant he heard the clicking noise from the lighter as Kazuto was, carefully, toying around with it.

"More like an inner desire to just watch the world burn with the shit I've had to put up with in life…" Kazuto answered, a clear hint of hostility in his tone, but Damion was quiet for the moment about it, until finally speaking up.

"You've got more than issues with your dad, don't you?" Damion answered, as Kazuto merely let out a chuckle at the thought, before his clear, angered tone spoke through.

"Buddy, pal; there's things in life that you're too young to really know about; I was never given the patience to tolerate Ken's actions towards me or anybody else." Kazuto replied, as Kazuto went from toying with the lighter to being more serious about it and bringing out a cigarette from a pack; quietly lighting up as he inhaled from the other end, letting out a deep sigh as he exhaled as his breath was visible for a moment.

"But, yes, I do smoke; if merely because I'm still not through with having to tolerate the jackasses in my life or anyone else's I know." Kazuto answered Damion, as Damion responded by turning his head away from the smoke's trail. "Damion, I know only a small bit of who you are, but if you're not going to bother speaking about your troubles to anyone but my sister, it's best to just crawl back to the shithole you came from and quit wasting everyone's time." Kazuto brought up, as Damion was quiet for a good several seconds, before turning his head to face the older man again.

"What all do you want to know?" Damion started by bringing up a few possible questions for Kazuto to choose from. Kazuto, regardless, already knew what to ask now that Damion was willing to speak.

"What all are you truly capable of? I have seen some of the files about your abilities at work, but I couldn't tell if that was stuff you're able to do… or if it was your brother Mirror M." Kazuto brought up, as Damion had moved within a heartbeat as he had levitated right in front of Kazuto's face now; Kazuto didn't even flinch, not even to Damion's pupils having formed into slits.

"Clever; those eyes actually do something for you, even if they're not being used for their original purpose. I was told during my studies on artificial intelligence at work about the programming used in Mirror M causing him to have his eyes shift in shape whenever they activate their full effects. I could've sworn they also change color, though." Kazuto asked.

"They don't; the Predator Eyes are not to function on the level of requiring additional lenses unless you outright intend to use them for combat purposes." Damion spoke up, all the while slowly moving to lower himself down onto the ground and walking back over towards where he was originally standing. He could tell Kazuto wasn't bluffing about his experiences based off of what he had seen then and there, but Damion was still puzzled by something.

"Kid, trust me when I say you may be a powerful life-form based off of whatever other abilities you'd rather not detail, but I have to ask the big question here; are you even remotely intending on using them for malevolent gain?" Kazuto asked as he briefly inhaled on his cigarette as Damion took a while to answer him. Damion's lack of an answer after a moment caused Kazuto to try and an attempt to snap his fingers to get Damion's attention…

… Though he immediately stopped when Damion began to raise his right hand towards him. As the heavy, reinforced bracer on Damion's wrist began to glow with an intense energy, his fingers were moving outwards and cupping together to form into an exterior, circular, incomplete shape as a bright, shining surge of purple colored particles formed in his palm as surrounding his wrist manifested a halo of energy that only thickened as Damion continued to charge. Kazuto still didn't budge from his spot, his gaze not overly interested as Damion moved to point his right arm outwards into the sky and out of the way of anything.

After a solid minute, Damion's gaze was scanning the skies for anything that would be in the way; exactly 72 seconds in, Damion's iris suddenly expanded to make his whole eye appear solid red, with his pupils turned hellishly thin as the charged energy his right hand suddenly ignited in a bright, violet flash.

"OH SHI-" Kazuto only barely had a chance to get anything in as a giant, particle beam of energy fired from Damion's right hand, with ashy cinders appearing from parts of the front property as car alarms on the street began going off from the massive amount of energy Damion's hand emanated into a giant, but immensely condensed in width, beam of light propelled into the deep, dark side of the sunset sky. As Damion immediately ceased his action the moment he heard Asuna and Suguha walk out of the apartment, both gazing in absolute horror and shock, as to the incredible amount of power they had seen from their end of the situation.

The ashes and cinders caused by the direct firing of the beam, absorbed into Damion's gauntlet as Damion's sleeve and glove looked like it was drenched with something from within, caused Damion to collapse onto his right arm due to his leg injury kicking on and blood to partially spill onto the ground from when Damion grasped onto it and yelped out in severe pain. Suguha went to help him to stand up and get him back inside, Asuna slowly walking up to Kazuto as Kazuto had maintained a dead serious expression on his face from the beginning of that sudden attack even to when Damion had long stopped.

"How could he miss anything with something like that…? Nobuyuki would've never flipping shut up about it had he known Damion to possess that thing literally on hand!" Kazuto spoke up to Asuna, practically choking a little as he was drawn into a hug to calm him down. Kazuto, though, silently, but very hesitantly, chuckled a bit. "Thankfully Damion was at least careful with how serious he was 'wording' how he means no harm there." Kazuto added, as Asuna sighed with relief.

"Oh thank god he didn't hit anything…" Asuna mentioned, as Damion could be heard chuckling inside.

"Well I KIND OF wanted to try sniping Pluto from out there!" Damion yelled from the apartment, as Kazuto and Asuna lightly chuckled, before Asuna was drawn into a heated kiss from Kazuto help herself calm down after nearly having panicked over the life of her fiancé there…

… Though now they would have a reunion to prepare whether they liked it or not… From a dark, passing by limousine on the complete opposite side of the city, a man; dark haired with a touch of gray around his sideburns and mane, was listening as a conversation was being relayed to him over a communication channel installed into the vehicle.

"It's him Mr. Kirigaya! I told you once, I told you a thousand times, and yet you absolutely need to believe now or else people will flat out die if you don't address that thing your bastard son is keeping sheltered in his apartment!" Nobuyuki's panicked, absolutely startled voice was heard on the other side of the call, as the dark haired man, dressed warmly and looking ready for bed if anything, simply chuckled in a deep, somewhat growling voice as he inhaled from a cigar and exhaled the more smog-like breath he had in comparison to Kazuto's own.

"Relax, Mr. Sugou; just have yourself a night off and I'll have you out on a plane to France by the end of the week; don't worry about Chronicler or my son's efforts in delaying the inevitable in the slightest. Chill out and leave the pest control to the big men who can actually last seeing science in the making and not be shitting themselves like you are." Mr. Kirigaya spoke up, as Nobuyuki blinked as his expression looked panicked beyond all reason.

"Mr. Kirigaya, sir, you must understand this isn't a game anymore!" Nobuyuki tried to persist in telling him further, all the while Mr. Kirigaya responded with a deep chuckle as he forcefully hung up on Nobuyuki; taking an inhale of smoke from his cigar as he looked over towards his left hand, with himself pulling out a ring from his coat and silently slipping it on.

"If it isn't a game yet, Nobuyuki, then let it be; one week before I decide to remotely intervene; just being here sitting back, relaxing, and basking in the chaos to ensue before time is up… Yesss…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (AN: At the time of the beginning of re-uploading this story here, so far none of the chapters are considered Explicit rated; that will change in the future with the later chapters. Mostly I was just re-uploading from Fanfiction.net sooner just so I could get the move out of the way for when this story would begin to feature explicit content and all. Makes things easier for me. This is also the last of the chapters in terms of what hasn't been uploaded to this very site at the time of this chapter's release; the next chapter will go through the same basic schedule as I have with Truth and Ideals; explicit rated chapters, however, get uploaded here first solely due to how I'll be writing them for the Fanfiction.net version by writing the uncut chapter first and uploading here, and then releasing a censored version on that site. I hope you'll understand and thanks in advance for the patience.)


	9. Chapter 8: Past

Damion was being taken into a bathroom with Suguha helping him to stand and walk; the room wasn't overly large, but had a bath tub in addition to a shower stall-like glass barrier. Damion was quietly yelping as his eyes were either wide open or shut from how much pain he was feeling, so he couldn't really notice anything as Suguha set him down against the stall, being gentle with how she did.

"Damion… What's wrong with your arm…?" Suguha had asked, as she noticed how blood was dripping from Damion's right sleeve and glove; his right hand limp in movement as Damion took in a sharp breath.

"I-It's nothing you would like the look of…" Damion told her, all the while he slowly moved his left hand to carefully reach onto the back of his gauntlet; Suguha gulped in nervousness, but she slowly moved to help him with what he was doing. Resting her hands onto his right, she carefully, but reassuringly helped Damion by calmly following his right hand's movement as Damion removed one of the locks on his left hand's bracer.

However, this proved more difficult than it would appear; Damion froze up from pain as his left hand visibly bled more, all the while Suguha very nervously continued with the other three locks visible. With each lock removed, more blood could be seen escaping from Damion's left hand; with all four locks removed, his arm was bleeding more heavily as Damion bit his lip to hide the yelp he nearly let out.

"O-Oh my…" Suguha gasped as she removed the band securing Damion's gauntlet in place; a fifth lock was present, this one practically on fire in terms of heat. Suguha was nervous; she had to get rid of this fifth lock one way or another, so the only way she could think was to lift Damion into the bath tub and begin to turn on the water to cold. Suguha noted that Damion was somehow still conscious for this despite how heavy he was bleeding; his eyes were closed, but once the cold water began to come into contact with the fifth lock, surprisingly, but thankfully, the water actually caused the fifth lock to vanish from view.

With all of the locks off for real, Damion's left bracer was set to the side by Suguha, with her grasp moving to carefully remove Damion's left glove; the sight made her horrified by what exactly she was trying to reach. On Damion's now exposed forearm, there appeared to be a runic stone embedded into it, and from around the palm of his hand and much of the area of where the crystal was. All of the spots in question had various cuts present; almost all of which were visibly bleeding horribly.

Based off of what she was seeing here and the fact he had his other hand wearing the exact same type of gauntlet, Suguha was beginning to feel somewhat lightheaded with what she had to see. However, as Suguha trembled, she nevertheless remained as calm as she could despite the gruesomeness of it. The sight of the runic stone having caused Damion's arm to bleed so heavily was one thing, but now Suguha needed to focus.

Getting out of the tub and reaching into a cabinet, Suguha grabbed some medical wrappings and began to take them out of the box and slowly, but calmly, began to wrap Damion's right arm up with them to where the bleeding would finally stop and the arm to be able to heal. By now she could tell Damion was nearly out of it, but her attention turned to him once she felt his left hand on her chest.

"S-Sugu…" Damion couldn't finish what he was saying, before finally closing his eyes as the wrappings were in place on his right hand now; the flowing water from the shower assisted Suguha with cleaning up the blood that Damion had lost during this. Checking Damion's pulse to ensure he was alright, Suguha sighed as she looked towards his other hand; he wasn't even trying to grope her, but while she put that thought to the side, she focused herself on beginning to undo the locks on his left gauntlet.

With both of his hands free of the metallic bindings, Suguha could see a runic crystal on Damion's left arm as well. Sighing as she turned the water off once the blood was washed out, Suguha chose to wait for a moment before deciding what to do next. Checking Damion's vitals again, she could tell he was asleep, so she moved to head out of the room to prepare for a spot for Damion to rest. Whether Damion would argue or not, Damion wasn't going to be sleeping on the floor…

… Though that did make Suguha's mind reel with the fact Damion wouldn't budge from the floor unless she had a bed of her own…

After a while, Damion was moved into her bed for him to recover; it had been almost 10 hours later. Damion didn't show any immediate healing by the time Suguha was in here; waiting at the side of the bed, having fallen asleep around now. As Damion slowly began to stir after so long, Damion groaned a bit as he felt incredibly out of it with what had happened earlier. Slowly looking over and seeing Suguha asleep at the side of the bed, Damion sighed as he moved to remedy the issue he had with this; carefully, and really slowly, picking Suguha up, she placed her on the bed as he moved to lay beside her.

Damion didn't say anything as he gazed upon the look Suguha had; incredibly worried, tearful, but showing a lot of care towards Damion in her sleeping state. Damion, still feeling a little weak, slowly began to fall asleep again; resting his hands away from Suguha as he did.

By the time Suguha would begin to wake up, it was very early into the morning sunrise. Suguha yawned a bit as she looked directly at Damion, smiling a bit as she could tell he was beginning to awake.

"Y-You dummy…" Suguha noted from the fact she had called it in her mind due to where she was on the bed. Still, though, the fact Damion didn't try and make a move during her sleep surprised her; she could've been certain that he would've possibly tried to cuddle up with her, but she sighed of relief knowing Damion wasn't that kind of person.

"Damion…? Are you waking up?" Suguha asked, as Damion's eyes slowly moved open as he stirred.

"Suguha…" Damion spoke up, before taking in the fact he could feel freedom in his hands due to the fact they were unrestrained sans for partially his right. As Suguha smiled a bit sweetly, she was caught off guard as Damion tried to look at his hands; he looked rather nervous, but a gentle touch to his cheek from Suguha helped calm him down.

"You almost bled out there; I couldn't patch you up until I had removed that armor you wore…" Suguha said regarding Damion's right hand, all the while Damion sighed as he tried to remain calm.

"I-I'll need to put those back on later, you know…" Damion said to Suguha, but sighed as he looked at Suguha. "I'm not mad for what you did… I'm just wondering why you would go out of your way to do that…" Damion said to Suguha, all the while Suguha sighed as she moved to sit up; Damion doing the same beside her.

"Look, Damion; even with that ability you showed last night, you didn't try and hit anybody with it despite its power; in fact, Asuna was paranoid that it did hit something and kept checking the local news and nothing showed up!" Suguha told Damion, as Damion chuckled a bit nervously.

"That's because I was utilizing it a specific way to ensure the beam itself wasn't even remotely at full power…" Damion said, as he looked at his bandaged up left arm. "That and the fact I need both hands to use it correctly without injury…" Damion mentioned, as he looked at Suguha affectionately but at the same time worried. "I'm sorry for scaring you guys like that; I truly don't mean any harm." Damion said to Suguha, as Suguha quietly giggled a little as she blushed, just as she remembered something.

"By the way… Er… Since you've more or less given me the chance to learn more about you through that whole experience last night… I… I was wondering if I could ask you about something personal…" Suguha said, as Damion blinked.

"S-Sure." Damion responded, as Suguha sighed as she blushed immensely as to how she'd go about doing this. Within a few seconds though, she quickly removed her top and kept her bra in place; showing her upper body for much of what it is, as she moved to try and undo her bra. Damion, however, stopped her before she could, and handed her shirt back to her as his face was red from what he had briefly seen.

"U-Um… I-I… Is that really necessary for this?" Damion asked, as Suguha looked at him as if she were ready to cry, to which Damion looked concerned.

"… I never told you about what happened before I met you, did I?" Suguha said, as Damion blinked, shaking his head no. "I was going to have a date for an upcoming dance and he treated me nicely and all, and I was happy at first… until the photograph passed along by friends which he had posted online." Suguha mentioned, as she pulled out her phone to bring up the page, as she showed Damion the photograph of who he had assumed was Suguha's ex- at this rate…

Primarily because he could see the boy casually groping another girl with a much more noticeable bust size than Suguha's. Damion could already feel a touch of anger, but it wasn't actually the fact of what the image itself alone said, but the caption for it that got under his skin. 'Better than that Kirigaya bastard, isn't she?' it read.

"… Some jackass he turned out to be…" Damion said as he made sure not to get too angered from this lest he worry Suguha even more because of the stress it would cause his hands. Suguha quickly took the phone to the side and out of his sight, before grasping for Damion's hands with her own; she could already tell that Damion saw plenty to get angry about from that, and didn't want to reopen his wounded right arm.

"But… um… related to that… I was wanting to ask you…" Suguha began to say with a pause, before finishing what she was trying to ask "D-Do I look pretty to you?" Suguha asked Damion, as Damion blushed a bit as to the question. He took a moment to think about how to respond to it, but now he didn't bother trying to keep Suguha from stripping of her top.

Suguha, taking the hint that Damion was okay with seeing her topless, removed her bra by undoing the strap in an instant. Her breasts, now visible to Damion in plain sight, allowed Damion to get a better view of her as she put her hands behind her back to push her chest outwards. Damion, motioning with his hands to rub just underneath Suguha's breasts as if asking if she was sure about what she was letting him do, nodded to him reassuringly.

As Chronicler gently lay his hands on her breasts, he didn't move with them in his grasp or anything; he simply pushed against them to feel them for as quickly as he would need to.

"Suguha… It's not your breast size that matters as to whether you're good for someone or not; it's further above from there." Damion said, removing his hands from her chest as he gently pokes Suguha's forehead, as Suguha was startled a bit with what he was suggesting. "It's your personality and overall kindness I find far more attractive to be honest, but I understand if you don't think-"

Damion was silenced with his words as he flinched from feeling the warm, soothing touch of Suguha's lips against his cheek. It was brief, true, but Suguha's kiss against Chronicler's cheek meant more to the two of them than they've both otherwise thought.

After a moment, Damion moved to carefully draw Suguha into a hug; Suguha returning the hug. "Look, Suguha, I'm perfectly okay with being your date for the upcoming dance… but… I think we both got too caught up there; as in, how am I going to be able to attend when there's the crucial fact I don't even exist in the real world?" Damion asked, as Suguha was too busy resting her head under his chin.

"We'll figure something out; besides, I'm not completely ready to call you my boyfriend just yet, even if we're both rather intimate at the moment…" Suguha spoke, as she moved to sit up and look at Damion.

"I understand; so sort of official yet sort of taking our time before it actually is official, huh?" Damion asked Suguha, to which she warmly nodded to him. At the open door to the bedroom, though, their peace and quiet was interrupted by a heavy, exhausted groan from Kazuto.

"Oh my GOD, Suguha; not even a week and you're already showing another boy your tits! You seriously couldn't wait just a few more days?!" Kazuto stressed, as Chronicler moved to help hide Suguha's exposed upper body as she moved to get her clothing back on.

"Um… er… I can explain?" Suguha mumbled a bit.

"Oh boy first you kept ogling an anime character as your husbando just three years ago and now you're literally having an AI or some variation thereof ogle you in turn; I'd really rather you not turn out to be a female version of me any time soon!" Kazuto brought up, as Suguha hid her face behind Damion.

"Uh… Suguha?"

"Don't let him look at me!"

"… U-Um…"

"Don't look at me either for the moment!"

After everything was beginning to clear up between the three, Asuna was working on reheating some food that was meant for Damion the night before, but she didn't have a chance to allow him to eat due to his injuries he sustained having knocked him out.

At the apartment, Ryōtarō and Rika were over all the while Kazuto and Suguha's mother was helping Asuna in the kitchen in addition to some small talk, whereas Ryōtarō and Rika showed Kazuto and Chronicler the images that Keiko had sent them the day before.

"So this is who I am…? Yet another failed attempt at creating a Mirror M successor when there didn't even remotely need to be one?" Damion asked as his pupils formed into slits at the mere thought of the idea.

"And as if things couldn't get any crazier, SAO dropped a patch that allows for PC players to compete with MaterialEye players properly due to the redesigned combat system for the former that now fully completes the transition to VR compatibility." Rika spoke up, "And the Level Cap increased along with it since this is the 7th Anniversary Expansion launch as well." Rika added in.

"Yeah and I'll admit, the trailer for the launch is amazing to look at; not a clue why Kizmel is back, though." Ryōtarō mentioned all the while Damion was quick to take notice of what he had said.

"K-Kizmel…?" Damion asked as his eyes looked ready to panic again. Ryōtarō, not wanting to try and enrage Damion, showed him a picture rather than describe her; a tall, purple haired woman with semi-dark skin and elven ears, and having full body armor in addition to a black hood which, now that the group thought of it, looked oddly a lot like…

"… M-Mom…?!" Damion choked out, as Ryōtarō and Rika both flinched, all the while Suguha and Kazuto both looked at each other in a hurry; if that was even remotely the case with what Damion said, both brother and sister were quick to forcefully latch onto Damion. Just in time as well for that matter, as Damion was already beginning to virtualize his physical body as his molecular restructure began to fade from reality and translate into digital; after a brief moment, Kazuto and Suguha began to have the same affect them due to the fact they were clinging to Damion to ensure he wouldn't be alone.

Stunned and silent due to the vanishing act they saw from their perspective, Ryōtarō and Rika were wide eyed as Asuna walked into the room with a dish for Damion, only to see in shock that he wasn't there, nor were Kazuto and Suguha. Kazuto and Suguha's mother, on the other hand…

"H-Holy…"

"S-Shoot…" Ryōtarō, Rika, and Asuna finished for her.

Upon entering cyberspace and thus into Sword Art Online again, they were greeted with the fields and grasslands outside of Nova City. However, not all was tame, as almost every part had winged humanoids glowing either a bright light or an intense darkness facing off against each other; angelic figures and demons fighting each other with larger demons directly attacking Nova City itself. With the fight in the skies not letting up, as Kazuto was stuttering to try and figure out how exactly Chronicler pulled off virtualizing him, he was too busy looking over towards a humanoid demon with a triangular face and large chin and massive mane walking over towards the three.

"Chronicler what's going on here?!" Suguha asked in worry, as the large, muscular demon walking towards them, wearing a business suit as he chuckled darkly to the sight of Kazuto and Suguha, as well as Chronicler. With Kazuto having his gear and looks as Kirito transfer onto himself, and the same for Suguha with her Leafa equipment, Kazuto and Suguha looked ready to fight the humanoid demon as Chronicler simply stood there in shock with a look of horror.

"Th-That's him…" Chronicler muttered, as Kirito and Leafa's eyes widened as they realized what Chronicler meant; the demon, chuckling as he vanished and appeared behind them and taking the three into a wide embrace, didn't even hide the malice in his tone as he began to speak.

"Friends, allegiances… family…" The man growled the last bit before resuming his standing pose in front of them as wings began to extend from behind him.

"Welcome, everyone; I will be your host, GM Kirigaya Ken, and allow me to welcome everyone, one and all… to Sword Art Online!"


	10. Chapter 9: Unbound Potential

Kirito was eyeing in shock, Leafa was preparing to get ready to attack, and Chronicler went a little limp where he stood all the while the trio watched as the large, robust, intimidating Kirigaya Ken flexed and moved his muscles about to stretch and practice some punches and jabs with his body as he looked away from the trio.

“So who’s first?” Ken asked all the while Kirito had jumped forward mid-sentence and pulled out his two-handed sword and performed a vertical slash against Ken’s body; the blade, upon impact, shattered like glass as the attack didn’t even faze Ken very much. As the triangular head of Ken turned to face his son, Ken lunged as he grabbed hold of Kirito’s head and slammed him into the ground a good distance away from Leafa and Chronicler.

Leafa did what she could to try and analyze just how strong Ken’s avatar was, but due to how exactly Chronicler’s virtualization worked from what she had seen the day before and now, she had no access to any sort of UI interface. That wouldn’t, however, be a problem for Chronicler.

“Chronicler… How strong is Ken…?” Leafa asked, as Ken walked over to Leafa chuckled as Kirito was knocked out in the dirt behind him.

“Come now, child, or, rather, a fully grown adult; did you honestly expect your adulthood would leave you free from my wrath?” Ken asked, as Leafa growled towards Ken, as Ken simply chuckled and patted his daughter on the head in a mocking matter, before looking over towards Chronicler as he watched his broken state with interest.

“Come now, Chronicler… nothing to say to daddy?” Ken taunted Chronicler, as he still didn’t get much of an answer after Chronicler had more or less froze in place. Chronicler didn’t know how to comprehend seeing this man again; all he could even remotely manage to do was use the spell he had used before to summon forth his shire again. However, Ken, thinking that Chronicler was trying to flee, materialized an axe of dark energy and struck down the shire in a single blow.

The horse, giving a loud, agonizing call as it was attacked on sight, fell to the ground towards its side, as its body had went limp. Chronicler, looking over towards the fallen horse in absolutely horror, slowly fell to his knees as he tried to hide the emotions going through his mind right now; Ken, though, simply walked over towards him and laughed.

“Come on, it’s just a toy like everything else you’ve had to live alongside. Did you honestly think it was even alive?” Ken asked Chronicler, as Leafa moved to quietly move to face Ken from behind as she tried to figure out how to attack the demonic man before her. Chronicler, beginning to choke up a little as Ken simply watched him the whole time, eventually fell flat onto the ground as he had begun to cry.

“You’re no killer; you’re no man; you never were even an actual human either way. An AI like you has no actual rights to freedom as you’d so dearly wish.” Ken spoke towards Chronicler, as he had heard the piercing sound of an arrow flying through the air; moving to quickly grasp behind him, he held in his hand to look at a reinforced arrow in his hand that was aimed towards him.

Ken turned around, hauntingly slow and casual about it, to look as to wherever Leafa could’ve been; he had lost visual on her, and since Kazuto was still in the grass knocked out, somebody had fired at him, but Ken couldn’t quite identify who. Ken’s UI told him that Leafa was in the area still, but in a mere instant, his UI completely crashed on his visual and auditory end as Ken panicked, before looking over towards where Chronicler had been.

The AI he had known had vanished from the area, but it was clear with Ken’s senses effectively blinded, that Chronicler was still here for what little he had known about him. Ken tried his best to access any of the communication channels to get into contact with any of the other game masters; no signal from any of them, not even considering Ken’s much more refined virtual avatar or abilities compared to Kirito or Leafa’s. Moving to suddenly dodge upon hearing a low quality sound, Ken just barely dodged Chronicler appearing out of the blue with a glowing, rune covered longsword.

“Annoying brat, didn’t I already tell you about how this game goes? Your weapon may be strong, but without the stats to back it up, you can’t do jack shit to me, boy.” Ken scolded Chronicler, all the while he founded himself with his hands forcefully held behind his back by Kirito finally getting enough strength to get back on his feet after an opening was presented.

“What do you think he’ll do? He’ll kill us both like this!” Ken told off Kirito, but Kirito didn’t listen to what Ken had to say.

“Fine; this isn’t my story either way…” Kirito said in a dark tone, as Chronicler stood idle in stance as his ominous longsword transformed in shape into a shield with a diamond shape to it. Ken’s eyes widened as he observed Chronicler’s weapon transform.

“That’s… that’s not how that works…” Ken spoke up, as eventually threw Kirito out in front of himself as he spun around, and this time effectively manage to spot Leafa firing an arrow at his eye; striking him directly with a poison tipped arrow, Ken growled as he was thinking to himself as to how exactly Leafa had managed to harm him at all.

It didn’t make any sense, he thought; his stats were maximized compared to these three, he thought; he should’ve been invincible, he thought to himself again. As he was wondering what exactly was going wrong, he checked his own UI and noticed something; he was effectively being blinded by the very superweapon Chronicler was born from, which prevented him from checking his UI to check his own vitals properly.

 _‘Persistent pests… This is why I never liked the two of them let alone all three…’_ Ken thought to himself, as he snapped his fingers and summoned forth two, large, gargoyle monsters to his aid; without even a chance to react, Chronicler slammed his shield into one of them, allowing for Suguha to charge in with her sword and strike the beast in the chest for a fatal blow. As the second moved to attack, Kirito took it down in a single, horizontal slash which cut the gargoyle in half.

“If you’re saying stats ultimately matter, why the low level guardians?” Kirito asked Ken, as Ken simply chuckled a little.

“You might think that they’re low level, but you do not know the truth, or even as to why Chronicler over there is near stagnant.” Ken brought up, as he looked over towards Chronicler, who was glancing back over to the corpse of his shire horse. Chronicler, slowly beginning to growl a bit in anger as his fists tightened together, as Ken simply responded by grabbing Kirito in a choke hold upon seeing him trying to rush at him from the corner of his eye.

As Leafa fired several more arrows from behind Ken, some of them actually landed, and instead of poison, exploded upon contact with Ken’s back, all the while Ken looked over at her with his demon avatar beginning to slowly roar towards her in frustration. Slamming Kirito into the ground, Ken moved to fire off powerful, immense bolts of fiery energy towards Leafa. Leafa dodged all that she could manage, proving to be much more nimble on her feet than her brother did.

Ken, not having been paying attention to Chronicler this whole time, looked over towards him as he fired an immense stream of fire towards the boy to provoke him into attacking or at least something of that sort. Ken, in hindsight, should’ve just ignored him as he was earlier; by the time Chronicler reacted, he could be heard chuckling as the flames around Chronicler dissipated near instantly. Leafa, taking Ken’s surprised reaction to her advantage, coated her sword in poison as she moved behind Ken and thrusted it right through his back and out of his gut.

As Ken recoiled in pain as he looked over towards Chronicler, he was stunned to see Chronicler’s eyes almost completely red save for white, hellish slits for pupils as Chronicler looked over towards him with a general lack of the innocence he had before. Ken’s eyes slowly widened as Chronicler began to chuckle more and more with a sense of malice directed straight towards Ken himself. Chronicler simply gestured to have Leafa get Kirito out of range; Leafa didn’t waste time since she was now beginning to wonder what exactly Chronicler was going through right now.

“Over the past 18 years you all had wondered who my father was; where my father’s half of my VNA originated from, and why you all had feared whatever he was even though he looked perfectly human. I’ll tell you something right now, Ken; I can feel his unique flow of energy coursing through this virtual body now. I wonder, though… can I finally achieve the transformation of my sibling…?” Chronicler said as he began to charge an immense influx of mana directly into his very body and soul.

Ken moved to immediately strike Chronicler with an electrical spell, before finally rushing forward with his axe to try and kill him in haste. He didn’t stand a chance, however, with the massive explosion of magical energy that completely sacked the whole landscape in the nearby vicinity. Leafa and Kirito watched from a distance as they both were now worried for Chronicler; Kirito was mentally cursing Ken for having provoked Chronicler, and Leafa was beginning to worry about Chronicler’s sanity now that she knew Ken had a bigger part in his insanity than initially thought.

As Ken backed away as he was beginning to cough and wheeze immensely from the poison hitting his system, Ken looked on in horror as Chronicler’s hair turned silver as his whole body glowed with a blinding white light; his gauntlets having shattered to reveal the runes underneath, his runes were now completely unbound in terms of their destructive potential. With his cloak transformed into angelic wings, Ken looked paranoid as to Chronicler’s newfound form. Ken, rushing forward with a charge energy spell of dark magic to strike Chronicler, didn’t expect Chronicler to, within mere milliseconds, to respond with his runic laser from both of his hands to parry the wave of energy fired in his direction.

“Foolish Chronicler… You’re blinded by your own rage and anger… Is that why you tapped into your secret power so suddenly?!” Ken asked, as his beam of dark energy pushed against Chronicler’s runic beam with a greater force, as Ken merely chuckled, “Even if this is the end of me, there will be someone who will take my place; you can count on it!” Ken spoke up, as Chronicler chuckled from his end of the beam struggle.

“Ken, for all of the abuse you’ve given the three of us, you can go straight to hell!” Chronicler shouted, as his runic laser suddenly exploded in terms of sheer power output; vaporizing right through Ken’s dark magic beam, Ken himself was caught in the explosive firepower of the runic laser as his body was beginning to vaporize on contact. However, as Ken struggled within the beam itself, his mouth began to fill with something strange as he vomited some kind of metallic sphere out into the air and over the horizon.

Ken’s body, however, did not last for much longer; within seconds, his body was vaporized by Chronicler’s runic laser without question. Neither Chronicler, Leafa, nor Kirito knew, however, is that Ken still lived in the form of his physical body still in the real world. Ken raised an eye as he chuckled to himself as to the fact Chronicler seriously believes he is dead.

 _‘Fool, that’s what I hope he’ll believe for the next week or few until I return again as if nothing happened.’_ Ken thought to himself from the backseat of his limousine, as he snapped his fingers for the driver’s attention.

“Alright, take me home; I’ve had enough to deal with in this little game for the day.” Ken spoke up to his driver, who nodded in response as he began to drive off from the parking lot he was stationed in.

Back in the virtual world, though, Leafa and Kirito were quick to head back towards Chronicler, as Chronicler looked over the two of them as his eyes still looked frenzied from Ken’s provocation. However, before Chronicler could remotely have the chance to attack them out of a blinded fury, Ryōtarō and Lisbeth stepped into the fight from the game on their end; Lisbeth raised a shield to block whatever attack Chronicler had, all the while Klein looked ready to stand up to Chronicler should he try anything fishy.

“Guys, please; leave him be.” Leafa spoke up, as she looked around and saw Sinon with a rifle ready to snipe away at Chronicler if she truly had to, seated right at the top of a tall cliff. With Chronicler still at edge with his friends and the divine power flowing through his body, it was clear that even with the fierce exterior, from what Sinon could see, Chronicler was suffering more than he showed.

“Guys, if you want to save his life, you’re going to have to knock him out of that form; it’s dealing damage to his maximum HP every five seconds he uses it!” Sinon informed Klein and Lisbeth, as the latter two looked at each other as Leafa and Kirito both came out from behind the duo as they both dropped their weapons and rushed over towards Chronicler; before Chronicler could do anything to retaliate, both of them were quick to hug Chronicler towards themselves as to help Chronicler calm down from his immense amount of rage.

“Chronicler; you’re not a killer, you’re not a monster; you’re human, just like all of us!” Leafa spoke up, as Kirito spoke next.

“Chronicler, regardless of your very creation, regardless of whatever you were intended to be, you have the choice of who you truly want to be; please make that choice for your own benefit!” Kirito spoke to Chronicler, as Chronicler’s frenzied gaze looked towards the two of them; Klein and Lisbeth visibly cringed as Chronicler still looked hostile, but they let out a sigh of relief when Chronicler divine transformation died down to allow Chronicler back to his normal self.

Chronicler, sighing heavily due to the severe exhaustion he felt, looked towards both Leafa and Kirito and hugged them both in return as he used whatever power he had left to take all three of them back into the real world. Their bodies fading into molecules, Klein, Lisbeth, and Sinon looked in disbelief as their transfer back into the real world occurred. Sinon, who didn’t have any knowledge of this prior, was the most surprised of the three.

Materializing back in the real world, Kazuto nearly keeled over in immense pain around the same time Damion himself did as well.

“Damion, sheesh…! Is this the kind of pain you’re forced to deal with every time you do this?!” Kazuto asked as his muscles were beginning to tighten up as he could feel Asuna move from behind him to lift him back up to his feet. Damion merely groaned as he tried to get the strength to answer, but Suguha helped him back up and onto a couch for him to seat himself to rest. Oddly, Damion’s gauntlets were back in place as if his transformation did not occur.

“Damion… What were you referring to when you mentioned your actual dad…?” Suguha asked, as Damion looked over at her and calmed more upon seeing her genuine concern for him.

“I’ve heard a lot of rumors about who my dad was; or, rather, what very little the workers at my original home had mentioned about him. They saw him for themselves, they could see he was human; his DNA, on the other hand, did not show it at all. VNA is the term used to describe the DNA of artificial life-forms like myself, standing for Virtuanucleic Acid. Compared to my mother, whom I get the majority of my VNA from, my birth apparently did not properly mix my mother’s VNA with my father’s DNA; as a result, my father apparently bestowed upon me a great power I could only access when my father’s DNA within me fully merged with that of my mother’s VNA within me, becoming a “whole” being in a sense.” Damion explained for what little he knew, as he took the time to mentally curse to himself about something.

“… And it looks like I’m going to need to go back into SAO soon…” Damion groaned as he facepalmed, “I forgot to go search for my mother while we were still in there; that Ken prick distracted the three of us more than he should have.” Damion said, as Kirito groaned, only for Asuna so moved him into a couch to relax as she walked over towards Damion.

“I’ll go; so will Ryōtarō, right?” Asuna offered, as she looked over towards Ryōtarō as the man nearly flinched.

“Wait why can’t I just use my in-game avatar?” Ryōtarō noted, as Damion sighed.

“Your in-game avatar doesn’t have any trace of VNA in it; my mother won’t recognize you as anything other than a typical player if you don’t have VNA present within yourself.” Damion said, as Ryōtarō sighed as he watched as Rika reassured Ryōtarō with a cheerful gesture. As Ryōtarō and Asuna joined hands with Damion, all three of them could feel a sensation going through them as Damion did what he could to traverse all three of them in such short notice back into the game.

As Damion translated himself, Asuna, and Ryōtarō into the game, he translated the trio into a region much further away from the grassy plains, in the form of a savanna type of environment with a giant waterfall next to the landing point, which connected to a large spring at the bottom.

“Alright, so let’s get one thing and one thing very simple with what I’m about to explain to the two of you, more like, how I’m going to go about that.” Chronicler said as he scouted the area for any signs of life; up ahead, further away from the spring, he could identify horses in range of the group. Klein, however, merely looked around in a panic as his equipment materialized onto his form, as he looked around half nearing ready to scream. Unbeknownst to Chronicler, though, both Klein and Asuna took sight of something which made Klein let out a loud, ear piercing, shrill of a scream, as Chronicler turned to face the entity with piqued interest.

It was a giant horse.


	11. Chapter 10: No Lonely Sky

The savanna wastes were beautiful in appearance to those who appreciated the outdoors; while the screaming from Klein in the distance did not do it justice in the slightest, the arrival of a dark skinned woman from her campsite within a cave did.

"It's too early in the morning for this…" Kizmel spoke, as she looked around and eventually went towards a nearby spring further from the cave as she looked around; not a soul in sight, all the while she didn't even flinch at the fact she was lonely or anything of the sort. Kizmel, stopping by the spring, began to strip of her sturdy, paladin armor…

"Huh?"

…

"… Is somebody there? Come on, show yourself, I won't harm you…"

… No response from anybody or anything; everything remained silent and tranquil in the morning, all the while Kizmel looked around; half undressed as she was curious as to who could've caught her attention… if only she could know…

"… Know… Know what…? No, seriously, who is there?"

… Deafening silence, outside of the wind; even Klein's screaming persisted but felt like it was nothing more than a faded sound at this rate… Only hoping that she would notice, Kizmel decided to instead investigate what the source of the noise was after she placed her armor back on herself and prepared to set off.

Moving to levitate herself up with a powerful spell, she floated back down towards the ground just above a feral horse; a stallion with a white body and a regal, blond mane and tail. Landing on the equine's back, the horse began to try and resist Kizmel's mounting of it, all the while Kizmel simply maintained her grasp of him to keep herself on his back and keep the horse calm.

After around 30 seconds, the stallion stopped with its resisting of Kizmel's mounting of him as the stallion was held by the back of its mane by the dark skinned beauty to begin to trot in the commanded direction; heading directly towards the sound of Klein's screaming.

"Oh my god, Klein, SHUT UP!" Chronicler said as he covered his ears as he was on the ground undergoing immense pain from the sheer volume of Klein's vocal chords, as Asuna wasn't anywhere near as disturbed by Klein's screaming as Chronicler was. As Klein ceased once he had ran out of breath, he looked around and noticed he scared everything off; the giant horse that was mere inches away, though, was still in view further ahead into a canyon.

Asuna, watching as her armor and weaponry from the game materialized on herself, looked over towards Chronicler feeling immense pain; moving over towards him to help him stand up, Chronicler was panting from an unusual exhaustion as he looked incredibly pained. Asuna, staying by his side until he felt like he could stand on his own, softly spoke to him to reassure him since he looked rather terrified at the moment.

"I… I'm going to need some time to myself… But I can't leave you two here alone…" Chronicler said as his voice even sounded exhausted as well; whatever Klein's screaming did to him had hurt him more than what Klein could right away figure out. Klein, grasping firm hold of his sword and shield, looked around the area to check if anything was going to try and get the drop on them.

Klein, looking back over towards Asuna with Chronicler, realized he must've done something to Chronicler without realizing the full consequences, so decided to move off on his own in search of where exactly Chronicler had brought them to.

Looking up ahead and spotting the giant horse which had frightened him, he noticed as the giant steed began to rear its head up and suddenly begin to bolt away from something. What could scare of a horse that big, Klein thought to himself. Suddenly, the thunderous roar of the pitch black, four legged, and two winged behemoth of a Dragon made itself known as the flying reptilian charged through the canyon at high speed.

As Chronicler began to recover from his recoil, he stirred enough to realize something off was going on. The dragon's roars; he could somehow understand what it was trying to say.

"Okay I know this might sound odd to you guys, but every time I've been near them, I could practically understand what goes on in the horse's minds; this is the first and so far only time I've been able to say the same for a dragon." Chronicler said as he jumped into the air and levitated himself so he could regain his footing. Asuna, looking through a notebook she had, was quickly browsing through it as Chronicler looked over towards Klein.

"Come on; let's go draw its attention towards us." Chronicler told Klein, as Klein cringed at the thought.

"Us? Attract a dragon to ourselves? Do you realize how powerful those things are?" Klein said, as he noticed how Asuna was beginning to start a campfire, and realized that Chronicler was giving him a weird look.

"… Do you want to live and stay a coward forever? Or do you want to live knowing you're not a ball-less excuse for a man?" Chronicler asked, all the while he materialized a bow and a quiver of arrows for Klein to use for something he had in mind. Chronicler gestured towards the top of a tall cliff where a large, relatively loosely footed rock was at the very edge. Klein flinched a bit as the arrows smelled a bit like fish.

"Fire an arrow up towards there; I'd do it myself, but I'm not good with archery." Chronicler ordered, as Klein looked at the bow and quiver cautiously before equipping them and attempting to take aim with the bow. If this were just the ordinary game, he could make the shot, he thought.

Upon firing an arrow first, it got off course and hit the bottom side of the cliff Chronicler was pointing out towards. Chronicler quietly gestured for Klein to try again, and Klein took by holding the bow vertically to try and see if he could get a better shot in. Firing another arrow in this fashion, he got closer to the mark, but he still missed and the arrow bounced off of the rock, but didn't cause it to budge.

Trying again with the bow, this time with Chronicler moving over towards him and assisting him with holding the bow in a secured fashion, he began to take aim. Chronicler, whispering a bit towards Klein with words to help him concentrate, fired an arrow through the air towards the intended target. This time, though, he could hear the arrow searing through the air at a hot temperature, before upon impact with the rock, exploded into a fiery plume of smoke and ashes, which caused the large rock to fall from the cliff and into the canyon.

The dragon's roaring could be heard again, as almost immediately the pitch black dragon flew up into the air and quickly flew over towards Chronicler and Klein's direction; Klein looked around and noticed Asuna was staying… oddly calm considering a dragon was entering range very quickly. Whatever she was cooking, it smelled a lot like fish to Klein, but Chronicler didn't notice as he watched as he materialized his shield as he walked forward rather slowly towards the ground in which the dragon would land.

The dragon, appearing very massive with a white underbelly, crystalline blue eyes, and a pitch black primary color for its scales, slowly moved to rear up to look down at Chronicler, all the while the dragon roared in his face all the while Chronicler simply chuckled a little, though sounding heavily nervous, as he dropped his shield to his side and moved to sit down in front of the Dragon.

Asuna, walking over towards the two, approached with a freshly cooked pair of sandwiches for Chronicler and the foreboding dragon. The dragon seemed to regard Asuna's presence with a hint of hostility, but nevertheless calmed when it saw she meant no harm by offering it the much larger sandwich she had prepared. Asuna didn't saw an awful lot in this situation, as she felt she didn't need to say a whole lot just yet and to not panic.

As the dragon began eating the sandwich, Chronicler was handed his sandwich as Asuna watched as Chronicler cautiously sniffed his food, all the while Chronicler slowly, and finally, began to calmly eat. Klein maintained his distance from the trio, as he just waited things out until he knew he had to jump in. Klein was rather stunned, though; he hadn't seen an NPC such as this dragon behave in a more complicated matter like this before.

"Asuna, don't you think it's weird with this dragon's behavior?" Klein asked, as Asuna looked over towards him and nodded.

"Sort of, but I can believe there's more to Chronicler's story than what we already think we know." Asuna spoke up, as she watched as Chronicler had hungrily finished his sandwich first, as Chronicler suddenly, but calmly, jumped up into the air and landing himself atop the dragon's back. The dragon, grasping the sandwich in its mouth in a hurry, finished it off and took into the air to try and actively shake Chronicler off of its back.

Flying high into the air, and performing a summersault why it was at it, the dragon was beginning to feel Chronicler's grip loosen and was beginning to smirk. That was, however, until Chronicler upped his performance by channeling into his hidden power as his body exploded with an immense energy; his hair turning silver again as his eyes turned red aside from the white, hellish slits, as his cloak transformed into silver wings behind him as his body radiated with a white aura. This time, though, his gauntlets didn't shatter upon usage of this form like before.

As the dragon gave a cheeky grin as it flew up into the air, it continued to gain altitude as the dragon flew straight up with an odd intention. Flying as high as it planned, the dragon suddenly dove towards the ground with an immense speed. Chronicler, however, could see what the dragon had in mind, and with a powerful grip against the dragon's wing shoulders, forcefully steered the dragon into a safe, but nevertheless crash landing.

As the dragon grumbled a bit as to how Chronicler was beginning to annoy it, the Dragon moved to stand as its temperament seemed more noticeably tame right about now. Chronicler recovered from the shock of the fall as he maintained his grip as the dragon moved to stand on all fours again, but nothing seemed to happen for a moment as the dragon remained calm and quiet… that was, until, a white and golden saddle began to materialize on the dragon's backside as Chronicler was snuggly fit onto the main seat of the saddle.

"Stormcloud; that's what I'll call you." Chronicler spoke as he panted a little. With the newly named Stormcloud looking over at Chronicler's face, Chronicler could feel an odd sensation through his mind as Stormcloud seemed to give him information of some kind. Panting a bit heavily now as Chronicler ceased his divine transformation as he nearly toppled over and off of the saddle, as the dragon's wing and Asuna and Klein had moved to help Chronicler land safely.

"So then, key question… how do we get back if Chronicler's low on energy?" Klein had asked, as Asuna blinked.

"… Good point… I mean considering how complex Chronicler's AI is, I doubt anything else could have the same ability he has of materialization and all…" Asuna responded, as a small, coughing noise could be heard trying to get their attention; Asuna, Klein, and Stormcloud looked over and saw Kizmel on her white steed approaching. Kizmel, dismounting her steed, watched as Stormcloud began to act more aggressive towards her…

… Only for a few quick gestures made by Kizmel to suddenly have Stormcloud roll onto his backside as Kizmel moved to pet Stormcloud's chin, just as Kizmel moved over to approach the semi-unconscious Chronicler.

"Everyone grab hold of one another; I can channel his ability through you, but I'm uncertain as to how it truly works for what little I know of this 'materialization', as you three call it…" Kizmel spoke up, as she had a hand placed on her shoulder by Asuna, Klein doing the same with Asuna, and Kizmel gently placing her hand on Chronicler's chest as Chronicler was laying on Stormcloud's wing still.

Opening her eyes as they glowed a striking violet, Kizmel channeled Chronicler's materialization ability through all of them as she had begun to, initially, send just Chronicler, Asuna, and Klein back to where they came from. However, seeing that not only Stormcloud was beginning to materialize as well, but also herself as well, Kizmel changed the destination to a place within Klein's memory; his house in particular due to the larger room it had for Stormcloud's size.

Upon returning to the real world, Ryōtarō and Asuna were quick to realize their normal attire was back on themselves, as Ryōtarō was quick to try and dial his cellphone for Kazuto. Damion, beginning to stir from behind Ryōtarō and Asuna's notice, looked over to his side as he realized something odd; Stormcloud had been materialized into view along with them…

… But Kizmel was nowhere to be found.

"Yes? Ryōtarō? Chronicler didn't bring you back to the apartment?" Kazuto asked over the phone.

"We were caught off guard; we weren't there very long, but I feel it wise for Damion to get some proper rest before we try anything like that again. Or the fact that-" Asuna spoke up, as Ryōtarō turned around him and shrieked when he saw Stormcloud rush past him with loud footsteps trailing it, as Damion could be seen on Stormcloud's back as Stormcloud took off into the air as it let out a loud, fierce roar.

"Kazuto… We're probably getting in far over our heads with Damion." Ryōtarō spoke up, as Kazuto had heard the roar loud and clear from Ryōtarō's end of the call.

"I can already imagine; just be patient around Chronicler, though; he probably needs some more time to adjust here than what we've given him." Kazuto said to Ryōtarō, as he sighed as Asuna began to take her leave as she joined in the call on her cellphone.

"I'm on my way home right now, so Kazuto; could you do me a favor and help arrange to eat out with Chronicler once he finds his way back?" Asuna asked, as Ryōtarō blinked.

"You're seriously treating him to dinner?" Ryōtarō asked, as Asuna sighed.

"Trust me, Damion looks stressed about something, so I want to be certain Kazuto can help calm him down…" Asuna said, as she looked up towards the sky.

Up in high altitude, Stormcloud flew far above the clouds as the saddle on its side opened up and revealed rather small extensions as a blaze of violet energy sparked and Stormcloud flew up even higher in the sky. Damion held onto the saddle with a firm grip, as Stormcloud eventually flew up further to where the clouds could only be seen vastly further below.

High up in the sky, Stormcloud and Damion breezed past a large, military grade satellite resting in orbit of the planet. As Stormcloud turned around to look down at the planet before it, Damion moved to lightly let go of the saddle and float idly in the vacuum of space. Unharmed by the vacuum, Damion looked over towards Stormcloud as he "spoke" to Stormcloud in an electronic signal.

 _[You knew about all of this, didn't you?]_ Damion asked Stormcloud, as Stormcloud silently looked at Damion and nodded, all the while looking over towards the Earth ahead.

 _[I was late; 3 months late it seems. I should've been there for you just after Mirror M broke out.]_ Stormcloud "spoke" up in return, all the while Damion glanced down towards the Earth as well.

 _[I don't even know you; how do you know me?]_ Damion asked.

 _[I was created as your gift for your 18_ _th_ _birthday. Mirror M and Nobuyuki Sugou ruined the whole plan, and I'm not going to let that slide for much longer.]_ Stormcloud spoke, as he moved to look towards the moon, as well as the surrounding, distant stars, other planets, and the primary sun of Earth as well.

 _[… How much of all of this did you get a chance to see when you first arrived?]_ Stormcloud asked, as Damion was rather quiet as he took everything in.

 _[I sort of fled here in the aftermath of the event in question. I tried numerous ways of… well… trying to let myself rot once the cold reality of everything had sunk in.]_ Damion told Stormcloud, all the while the draconid life-form simply listened. _[I couldn't tell the others of how I've tried to get myself killed on purpose over the past three months… I just couldn't… I don't want to guilt trip them with the full backstory of mine. How I was tricked into letting a man into safety only to be pushed out into a violent opening.]_ Damion told Stormcloud, as Stormcloud simply silently rumbled.

 _[You're new to this world, that is something you and all of the others like us will need to understand; no matter how hard we try, no matter what form we have, we will never truly belong here. It's the truth, and I can understand it'll hurt, but it is the way we'll have to exist alongside those native to this world and the others like it.]_ Stormcloud told Damion, as Damion nervously looked towards Earth as he slowly glanced back at Stormcloud.

 _[… Um… Could we take this back to Earth please? I'd like to go home and see Suguha again…]_ Damion asked, as Stormcloud was silent as he looked all across the depths of space within the direct view he could see, but eventually nodded to Damion. Damion, moving to secure himself onto Stormcloud's saddle, as Stormcloud flew down towards the Earth's atmosphere with an intense speed as he manifested a barrier around himself.

Back down on the surface, Suguha was in her bedroom writing in a journal mostly to herself. Everyone else had arrived back at home where they belonged by this point, all the while Suguha was busy writing away.

"I understand my birthday was days ago… but it felt incomplete compared to previous years; I felt like I wasn't truly sharing anything with anybody. I feel rather ungrateful about how it had went to be honest, but ultimately… did I truly deserve Damion's presence in my life?" Suguha was saying to herself as she wrote away in her journal, as she could hear knocking on her window as Suguha blinked, before walking over towards her window and gasping in surprise upon seeing Damion.

Moving to open the window as Damion moved to pick her up and carry her onto Stormcloud's back, Suguha blushed immensely as she could practically feel happiness emanating from Damion right now. As she was seated next to him on Stormcloud's saddle, Stormcloud flew off into the air as he took off over the night sky of the nearby city, as all of the city lights shining at once took Suguha at awe for the sheer beauty of everything.

Suguha had many questions to ask about Damion now, especially considering Stormcloud and all, but she couldn't think of much on her mind as she looked over at Damion next to her; noticing how uneasy he looked and shy he felt all of a sudden. Suguha, feeling words were not necessary, placed her hands on his as she brought him closer to her. Damion, gulping a bit in nervousness, as well Suguha, both inched a bit closer, before stopping to simply gaze at each other briefly…

Only to then seal themselves together as Damion and Suguha moved in for real for a calm, passionate kiss on the lips.

"Happy birthday, Damion…"


	12. Chapter 11: Secrets in the Dark

_Scanning databases completed; three unique signatures registered._

_#001: CHRONICLER IDENTIFIED… #002 STORMCLOUD IDENTIFIED… #003 NAOTOLIS IDENTIFIED._

_What do you wish to proceed with, Mr. Kirigaya?_

"What is the status of Mirror M?"

…

_#000 MIRROR M; location unknown, contact was last established three months ago._

Kirigaya Ken was weighing his options here. Sure he had did well with testing Chronicler's strength, but he felt something on the back of his mind regarding their encounter earlier. He felt Chronicler was holding back somehow, and that Chronicler hid behind him an unknown, vast amount of potential that he couldn't comprehend.

"Send the file on Stormcloud to Mr. Sugou, if only so he doesn't piss his pants screaming at the sight of a dragon in the real world."

_Acknowledged._

"Also, before you shut offline for the night, Sophia… I have a favor to ask of you which… normally I'd dare not ask about…"

Ken sounded like he didn't want to speak what he was about to ask; he had only heard local rumors of what had happened over the past three months. He thought he had everything under control until he directly fought Chronicler, even with an avatar at that, as to the fact Chronicler had abilities beyond his own in terms of capacity. He long knew of this, true, but the thought worried him. Chronicler was holding back his whole time until then…

"What can you tell me about Mirror M?"

* * *

It was quiet out in the midst of the city; Damion had taken Suguha out towards the top of a very, very tall structure in the form of the Tokyo Skytree, as Stormcloud's strong forelegs and hind legs kept a steady grip on the structure as Damion and Suguha gazed out towards the night sky. Suguha shivered a little, not from any fear of the immense height of this spot, but due to feeling a cold breeze so up high. Damion, looking over towards her, moved to take off his cloak and place it around Suguha to help her keep warm.

"I'm… er… sorry about taking things so high all of a sudden; no pun intended there…" Damion said as he looked over at Suguha who, while blushing, gazed at him softly and moved to draw him a bit closer where she sat. Stormcloud, noticing the shift in humidity, moved his large, left wing above Damion and Suguha to shelter them both from a small downpour of rain. Suguha nervously chuckled at Stormcloud's gesture; the look of ferocity, his stoic exterior, yet having an odd sense of charm to him, Suguha began to wonder what Damion did to deserve him.

No, not deserve him; Stormcloud looked like the kind of life-form who would not simply be owned by anyone. Even with Stormcloud's saddle still intact, it was clear the dragon was merely tolerating Damion and Suguha at this point, or so it would seem on the surface with his stoic expression. As Suguha huddled up to Damion, all the while Damion moved to wrap his arms around her for comfort, Suguha softly began to hum into Damion's ear. A calm, serene sound it was…

… Until the sound of something's sharp, ear piercing screech was heard echoing across the sky, and Damion's immediate reaction to it was his eyes to lock themselves in their hostile gaze all of a sudden, though his expression looked fearful. Whatever made that noise, Damion could recognize it somehow; even Stormcloud recognized it as well, as if having heard it before numerous times judging by his calm reaction to it.

With Damion moving to pick up Suguha off of the roof of the Skytree, Damion jumped back onto Stormcloud's saddle with her as Stormcloud got the cue and rushed off of the side of the giant tower and flew off in search of whatever the hell had made that noise. Stormcloud's eyes sparked an immense surge of magenta as his own version of Damion's special ability activated; scanning the skyline for differing energy signatures, the whole surrounding area appeared to be mostly humans at work late at night or asleep in their respective homes…

… With the exception of three signatures which seemed to glow with an immense form of energy. Stormcloud was beginning to scan the three signatures, and spoke to Damion in his draconic language to inform him of what they were.

"Mirror M, Garuda… Yumi…?" Damion translated, all the while Stormcloud flew down towards a tall structure just in range of the three signatures in question. As Stormcloud landed, a bridge nearby suddenly got blasted down in an immense surge of energy by a large, Centaur-like robot of sorts wielding a giant gun with a blade attached to it for its left arm.

Emerging from the rubble and roaring immensely was the sight of a giant, Theropod-like creature with massive front arms and a skull-like face with numerous sharp teeth, and a blond mane of sorts in addition to a gray colored body with some portions of it appearing charcoal gray or even purple in some areas. Damion's eyes widened once he got a good look at the creature's left portion of its face; its left eye was completely gone.

Rushing forward after safely moving two parents and their small, fragile son out of the way underneath of itself, the saurian charged forward to tackle the robot centaur, as the centaur charged forward to strike with its bladed arm; the saurian, anticipating this, latched onto the arm with its powerful jaws and violently twisted its whole body around to tear the arm off completely. Blood-like liquid oozing from the wound left behind, the centaur-like droid roared towards the saurian only to slapped aside by the saurian's massive arms and thrown into a building with immense force.

The saurian moved to bite down on the droid's chest, all the while violently tossing it around as the robot tried to strike with its remaining right arm and mounted weaponry on its legs and head. As Damion, Stormcloud, and Suguha watched the carnage ensue, they took quick notice of a girl wearing all black entering the fight as she boosted herself up onto the saurian's back with some form of mysterious, glowing yet pitch black power, used the same power to latch onto the robot's head and tear off the armored face it had.

Suguha watched in horror as she gestured over towards the two parents and their child taking cover in the scene, to which Damion steered Stormcloud to land down next to the three as Damion jumped off of his back and looked towards them, "What exactly is going on here?" Damion asked as he was barely being able to properly get that question out in proper Japanese. When the father began speaking to him in English, however, he seemed to calm a little as he was given an answer.

"Our daughter and her friend from school back from where we currently live have been hiding something they've been involved with for a while now; we don't know exactly who that robot is, but we know it isn't the only one like it!" The father began to say, as Damion looked over towards the brawl between the robot, the saurian, and the black decorated girl.

"So she's your daughter? Mind I ask what gives with her powers?" Damion asked, as Suguha nearly yelped when she saw something rushing towards them at an immense speed. Damion, by sheer instinct, moved to grab hold of something to wield against the incoming target, only for the makeshift piece of rubble to get sliced in half by the four digit clawed, ominous figure fading into visibility in front of him; its right eye glowing like a tracking laser, the creature chuckled in a sort of Russian sounding dialect as it stared the five down.

"Oh, don't worry about it Chronicler; it's a surprise enough seeing you here as it is, but with seeing a feast in the form of Mirror M, Yumi, and yourself, well… that's going to be a lot of VNA to take in at once, isn't it?" The humanoid creature spoke, as Damion stared in a powerless fashion as he watched as the creature raised its claws to strike, only for Stormcloud to suddenly jumped and tackle the humanoid into the ground. Yelping in pain due to the humanoid's absurdly sharp body, Stormcloud jumped off of the humanoid as it was quick to jump back onto its feet to strike again.

"A gourmet? I can handle that! I would LOVE that!" The humanoid spoke; the thick Russian accent merely adding into the further confusion as to what exactly this life-form was. As Stormcloud scanned the life-form, he roared out towards Damion the information as the humanoid entity lunged at Stormcloud just as Stormcloud exhaled a breath of electricity towards the fiend, but the fiend quickly dodged and disappeared out of sight.

"'#003 NAOTOLIS', I could've sworn she was just a myth but it looks like Ken was right with what he's been saying to me over the past three months; I'm far from the only one like me." Damion said as he tried to find something to try and use as a weapon against Naotolis, but Stormcloud was quick to find where Naotolis was hiding and grab her in his jaws and toss her in the direction of the ensuing brawl between the saurian, centaur, and the girl.

As Naotolis jumped out of view; slashing away at the centaur's armored chest all the while, the saurian grabbed hold of the robot's chest and crushed down onto it with a powerful bite. Caving in the robot's chest, he tossed the entity into the ground and lifted his head upwards as he roared an immense, powerful shriek, before facing down towards the robot and blasting its remains with a powerful exhale of a fire-like substance from his mouth.

Damion and Suguha both looked ready to intervene when Naotolis reappeared and lunged towards the girl, slashing at her with powerful talons from her feet, as the girl turned pitch black and vanished from immediate view before dropkicking Naotolis from behind as she had warped out of view both then and yet again. Naotolis, also vanishing from view again to try and trace down where her target was, was taken by surprise with herself held in place and the saurian moving towards with her with his jaws glowing an immense, fiery light. Naotolis vanished again as she had slashed her holder's arms and chest, revealing the girl from before getting knocked onto her rear as Naotolis moved to lunge at her. The girl, while down, kicked Naotolis way with an immense force, as Naotolis decided to instead take the time to lunge at Damion and Suguha.

"If you're reversing this I'm taking somebody with me!" Naotolis yelled out as a bright flash overtook the night sky, as Stormcloud moved to shield Damion and Suguha with his wings as the bright flash covered the whole vicinity. Within mere seconds, the family, the girl, the saurian, the remains of the centaur robot, and the mysterious Naotolis had all vanished from sight as Stormcloud moved away from Damion and Suguha once all of them appeared to be all gone.

"… They… they all vanished…" Suguha muttered, as Damion looked around in confusion as to what exactly had happened. Suguha got a text from Keiko, with the reply being opened up and Suguha hearing Keiko apologizing immensely for what had happened moments ago, and that she would be back home in Japan soon to explain everything as to what had happened. Damion, looking over towards Suguha with a questioning gaze, was greeted to Suguha sighing in exhaustion as she looked towards Damion.

"It's about time we head home, okay?" Suguha said to Damion, as Damion nodded all the while Suguha moved to lift him up with her onto Stormcloud's back, and taking charge with leading Stormcloud through the skies back to her apartment complex.

The remainder of the night had Nobuyuki hiding away in Ken's mansion of an estate, with a grandfather clock ticking away before ringing at the stroke of midnight.

"That's the second time it has done that so far tonight, so it seems your suspicions are true." Nobuyuki said towards Ken, as Ken merely chuckled all the while he arranged several balls on a large table with a triangular container in just the right spot at the center.

"Trust me Mr. Sugou, you're too paranoid for your own good, it's going to get you killed one day." Ken spoke up, as he mentally thought how he'd hope that would happen at this rate. "Besides, you did what you were told and kept an eye on Mirror M's coordinates… but you didn't tell me that my old business partner's husband had anything to do with the recent anomalies appearing in our world or the next." Ken said as he took hold of a large pole-like stick as he moved to concentrate his aim towards the table with the numerous aligned balls.

"My apologies, Ken; I didn't know of the existence of anyone else other than Mirror M or Chronicler, and the mere fact Chronicler's living right next door to me is going to make things difficult as it is." Nobuyuki said as he received a pause from Ken, only for an exasperated groan to be heard from the older male.

"… Listen, Nobuyuki; your plane to France is leaving within a few days, and you'll be out of harm's way in no time. So until then, I have one simple favor to ask of you, but first, I'm going to need to fill you in on everything relating to Mirror M that you don't already know." Ken said, as just when he was about to knock the pole into one of the balls, he stopped himself and looked at the time again and sighed. "Sit down, have a seat and relax, this'll take a while to elaborate on…" Ken ordered Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki freaked when he heard something creak in the large house, all the while he eventually took a seat next to the large fireplace in the same room.

Ken, moving over towards the fireplace to seat himself on the opposite side facing Nobuyuki, grabbed a cigar from his pocket and placed it towards his mouth as he lit it up. "Mirror M is not an ordinary life-form; next to no similarities can be made between him and the other anomalies; not even towards Chronicler." Ken said as he finished lighting his cigar as he inhaled from it, before exhaling a black smog from his mouth as he coughed a little bit. "Were you there when the sperm donor for Chronicler's conception was on the scene making a ruckus?" Ken asked Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki nodded.

"That hobo who none of the guards could remove from the building until he left on his own?" Nobuyuki asked, as Ken nodded.

"I wouldn't exactly call him a mere hobo, but that is indeed who I'm referring to. Listen, Nobuyuki." Ken said as he suddenly whipped out a pistol as Nobuyuki freaked as he watched as Ken fired a bullet or two towards the staircase above; the bullet burying itself in the doorframe, everything went dead quiet after the gun fired off, as Ken listened carefully before holstering his gun away.

"The man I'm referring to is but to many an ordinary custodian at my daughter's school, a man named "Martin W. Mollohan". He doesn't speak Japanese, so I wouldn't even bother trying to approach him yourself, but as you'll recall he's a brute when it comes to how hostile he can be." Ken began to detail, all the while he watched as Nobuyuki grabbed an empty glass on the table and poured himself a glass of wine from a bottle next to the empty glasses.

"This man is not an ordinary man considering he survived getting his head slammed into with a stereo set, and he once was spotted walking out a car crash completely unscathed; that is why he was brought on board for the experiment which ultimately led to Chronicler's conception. He was thought to be some kind of god-like being from another world, and we had used a bit of his DNA to create Chronicler in hopes of Chronicler being able to slay Mirror M… however…" Ken continued, as he looked around carefully again after a long pause.

The large, luxurious room was quiet and empty, but Ken could've sworn otherwise all the while Nobuyuki kept getting increasingly paranoid that Ken seemed to think something was there that he didn't know about. Regardless, Ken resumed talking after letting out a heavy sigh after inhaling more from his cigar.

"Mirror M was far stronger than any of us could've realized; Mirror M had 100% of the same type of DNA that was used to assist in Chronicler's creation; Chronicler ultimately only had 50% of it in comparison. Not only that, but there was what we did when we sealed Mirror M away; we reduced him to a form which sealed away 95% of his power given, and yet he still was a tenacious life-form to deal with despite that." Ken said to Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki was paying close attention.

"I'm listening; so what do you want me to do about this?" Nobuyuki asked, as Ken handed him a newspaper imported from France judging by the text printed on it, and the fact Mirror M could be seen on the cover of it in a weaker, humanoid form which appeared moving so fast he only was visible as a blur.

"Mirror M has been sighted in France over the past three months. I want you to personally flush him out of hiding once you arrive there by the time you leave, Mr. Sugou. Understood?" Ken asked of Nobuyuki, all the while Nobuyuki read through what he could with the paper, and noticed a particular name was highlighted out to him who caught his attention; he started off this conversation scared, but now he was furious…

"… I-Ishiyama…!"


	13. Chapter 12: PSA

The next day, Suguha was in the kitchen preparing something. Asuna had come over to help her after having been called over, although she was confused as to why she was needed.

"So, Suguha, can't you cook just fine on your own?" Asuna asked Suguha, all the while helping prepare some ingredients for her. She wasn't used to cooking with these ingredients in particular, considering the Western appeal what they were cooking had which she didn't fully understand, but Suguha was calmly preparing a meal consisting of grain rich bread, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, ham and jerky, thick and rich layers of cheese. In addition to these, Suguha added in eggs and pepperoni as she was preparing what to most would be a mere simple, yet complex, sandwich and nothing more.

"Damion needs to know that he can't simply walk out on food when it's presented to him." Suguha said to Asuna, as Asuna sighed as she watched as Suguha sprayed a rich spice onto the individual ingredients in tiny amounts.

"… You're right; Damion doesn't eat as much as he needs to." Asuna groaned, as she looked back into the refrigerator in Suguha's apartment, noticing how much of what would've been eaten by Damion last night was instead stored away. Sighing a bit as she looked back over towards Suguha, Asuna asked, "By the way, you said you kissed him last night, right?"

Suguha froze as she tried to figure out how to answer that. True, she did kiss Damion last night, but Suguha wasn't certain if Damion even recalled that they did or not, or if they had kissed too early. Then again, considering the other day, Suguha isn't much to talk about what would've been too early.

"Did you at least go and get your school's permission to bring him to the dance at the very least?" Asuna asked, as Suguha flushed red, before moving to concentrate on the sandwich for Damion for whenever he would wake up.

"I'll go check on him to see if he's awake, alright?" Asuna told Suguha, as Suguha nodded as she began to prepare Damion's sandwich still. As Asuna moved to leave the room, she let out a slight "Oh" as she saw Damion moving out towards the kitchen to greet the two.

"Hi everyone." Damion said, as he looked over at the two of them, as Suguha looked over towards Chronicler with a smile as she finished preparing for him something to eat, as she set the finished sandwich on a plate down on the table for Damion to sit at. Damion, blinking a bit in confusion, was given a playful glare from Suguha to sit down and eat before she made him sit by force. Damion, getting the message, moved to sit at the table as he slowly picked up the sandwich with his hands to begin to eat.

"I'll be sure to get more ingredients to choose from so we can get Damion's physique in a better condition; all we need to do right now is get his weight up a bit." Asuna said, as Suguha nodded. Damion, enjoying the sandwich that Suguha had prepared for him, swallowed what he had in his mouth as he looked over towards her.

"T-Thank you…" Damion said, as he moved to continue eating, as Suguha giggled a bit. As Asuna began to walk over to grab her cellphone to call up Kazuto at work, she found it odd how Kazuto was set to offline despite the fact she's personally been able to see him as do not disturb during his work hours regardless. Suguha, while she watched Damion, moved to grab her cellphone and dial her school. As her phone began to ring for a while, the phone was eventually answered.

"Er, hello?" The voice of a slightly nasally, but otherwise rather ordinary but gruff voice answered from the other end. Damion's eyes widened a bit as he continued eating as to not give away he was listening in just yet. Something about that voice sounded hauntingly familiar to Damion.

"Yes, may I speak with my principal?" Suguha asked, as the man on the phone took a while to reply, as she could hear him sigh from the other end.

"Sure, um… Is, is this about the dance at the end of the week?" The man asked, as Suguha mentally nodded.

"Yes, yes it is. May I speak with her?" Suguha asked, as the man on the other end sounded nervous.

"Um, er, s-she's not here today… at all… it's one of her few days off and, er, she doesn't like it when she's disturbed. I-I apologize if you've been wanting to speak to her about the upcoming dance, but, uh, how may I at the very least be able to help?" The man asked, as Suguha sighed.

"There's somebody not attending my school I'm wanting to bring with me to the dance; he's not attending any other school, so I was hoping to get the papers to fill out to get permission for him to come along with me to the dance." Suguha asked, as Damion paid close attention to Suguha's conversation with the man.

"Er, sure… um… Perhaps I can just send you the papers as a note over the phone? You'll still need to present your date to the principal within the next few days before he'll be able to show up… You know how the principal is, uh, she er, doesn't exactly like it when people bring in dates like this and not introduce them to her first." The man finished speaking, as Suguha nodded.

"I understand; I'll do what I can to make sure she meets my date before the dance proper." Suguha said, as the man nervously chuckled a bit dryly on his end.

"Alright, er, I'll see to it that she's aware of this by the time she's back. I'll, er, talk to ya soon…?" The man finished, as both him and Suguha hung up the phone after Suguha said her farewell to the man. As Damion finished eating, having hungrily eaten the rest of his sandwich in a bit of a hurry, looked over towards Suguha with a confused blink.

"… Are you sure she wasn't being robbed or something?" Damion asked, as Suguha nodded.

"Yes, I'm aware; that's just the janitor Martin who answered the phone in her place." Suguha said, as Asuna blinked.

"Martin… do we know him by any chance?" Asuna asked, as Suguha nodded.

"We know of him from the meeting last week, but Damion seemed to have been pretty interested in the conversation though…" Suguha said with a bit of a puffed up, playful glare towards him. Damion, laughing a bit nervously, noticed how Asuna was eyeing him oddly as well as Damion moved to head over towards the kitchen sink and wash his plate.

"I don't know, but his voice sounded very familiar and when I heard him speak I was listening in just to see if he was who I thought he was…" Damion said as he began to wash his plate for Asuna and Suguha. Suguha sighed as she looked over towards Damion, watching as he had finished and then moved over towards her to hold his hand out towards her.

"Well, I don't know why you would recognize him, but it might be a good idea to try and find a way to introduce him to you; he's nicer than he looks, trust me, so don't let his looks intimidate you." Suguha said, as Damion led her outside to head out on a walk with her. On their way out, Nobuyuki was in a panic as he moved to walk downstairs from his apartment and down to leave for work. Passing by Damion and Suguha, he freaked visibly as he panicked and ran off towards the nearest transport so he could hurry and get to work as Damion raised an eye.

"What happened to him…?" Damion asked as he wondered on the back of his mind why Nobuyuki was in such a panicked hurry.

Back in Sword Art Online, Kirito was busy trekking out towards an inhabited zone in the game, all the while Lisbeth and Klein were both with him as Lisbeth lowered her weapon upon arriving in the city limits of a large, very populated city in the game. Essentially, to summarize it would be difficult given the sheer beauty of the height the city was located at, and the numerous amounts of NPC guards and civilians were scattered across the place doing their usual business. Up towards the city hall, appeared a very large crowd of players who were being gathered here.

"This must be the place, for as much as I would regret coming here…" Kirito said, as Klein patted Kirito's shoulder to calm him down.

"Relax, I understand that the game master of this city is your dad and all, but you seriously need to chill." Klein said to Kirito, as Kirito groaned.

"Doesn't make it any easier." Kirito said, as Lisbeth looked up through the crowd to see the large podium from which the large, strong avatar of Ken showed himself in the form of "GM Aether" as the UI showed him to be. The demonic humanoid clashed with his surroundings; the city they were in was otherwise populated by divine entities, and not a single of which looked the piercing black and red that Aether showed himself to be.

"Ladies and gentlemen, to the entire player base of Sword Art Online, I would like to congratulate you all on a glorious seven years of service with your loyalty to the game over the years. For those who have been registered for at least a year by this point, they are free to collect their reward at the bank in the form of a simple payment of 100 platinum to their character, which can only be redeemed once per account so use it wisely. To anybody who has been with us since the beginning, then the rare, elusive mount of the Shadow Dragon will be the reward of those few players who have been with us since the beginning." Aether spoke, as Lisbeth squealed with excitement on her end; making her behavior look rather clashing with her current avatar being a rather tiger-like feral.

As Aether hit the microphone he was speaking into, though, the seriousness in his gaze intensified as everyone was paying attention to him as everyone quieted down to near dead silence.

"… That is not all I wish to speak with you about, however; there have been some issues that I've been talking with the development team of the latest update for Special Edition, that myself, as the community manager, would like to address loud and clear." Aether said, as he pulled up images on a large, holographic screen as Kirito's eyes widened as Klein and Lisbeth looked with interest.

Chronicler, Stormcloud, and Naotolis could be seen on the holographic images. Aether scrolled through various animations the three had, as the screens showcased various data on them.

"In nearly every game to have ever been developed, there always existed something in the code that would remain in the code, but ultimately be unused. When Sword Art Online began development, we had intended to implement and advanced AI system that some of the players smart enough have already seen implemented into the horse mounts we have available. Whereas the mounts you can purchase are immortal, the horses are free and mortal, but yet their AI is more advanced than the other types of mounts." Aether said, as he quickly brought up screens of various high level players using horses as mounts, as well as various map data and combat logs to showcase how some players were using them for combat, or how some were using them to easily travel through otherwise difficult to navigate regions.

"Capable of learning specific routes in the game's maps, being able to avoid enemies with minimal input when fully trained, the horses are meant to be the true higher grade mount you can acquire in the game. Certain individuals, for that matter, can actually move faster than flying mounts, but that is besides what I am bringing up here." Aether elaborated as an example, before focusing back on the three screens of Chronicler, Stormcloud, and Naotolis.

"The three you see here are the result of a glitch during the implementation of advanced NPC AI within the latest patch. The first, dubbed "CHRONICLER", is seemingly an ordinary player but whose presence will corrupt a person's UI to the point communication becomes difficult. At first, it might just be a harmless glitch, however;" Aether brought up, as he brought up numerous other screens which added up to 1,453 screens which all showcased various hospital records which are censored for privacy, but otherwise showcase a common sign; MaterialEye or not, the players suffered from some kind of auditory injury which rendered them comatose for upwards to a day.

"Chronicler is capable of causing injury to players to those who infuriate him. An otherwise passive boy, but a dangerous glitch at even minimal damaging output, and then we have Stormcloud up next. Seemingly what we're looking at is a Shadow Dragon mount which gained sentience and developed a mind of its own… however, on its own, it seems to already be claimed by Chronicler as his mount of choice, only for both of them to be followed by Naotolis. Naotolis is the most interesting, but also the most dangerous." Aether said, as he began to show screens of various player screenshots which showcased a damaged UI, negative experience and HP, among other details including the gruesome mauling they were getting from Naotolis herself.

"Naotolis will go after any player avatar as a means of feeding off of their data; if she succeeds in killing you, her own health will be fully restored, and the player that was killed will lose vital data from their player avatar, and Naotolis follows after Stormcloud in what originally were isolated incidents… until Chronicler tamed Stormcloud as if one were to tame a horse, and then Naotolis began to appear in even the protected cities."

As Aether was speaking, a gunshot could be heard as Sinon could be spotted up ahead by Kirito, Klein, and Lisbeth, as Sinon shot down what appeared to be Naotolis herself from a tall building; while the body appeared to be truly that of Naotolis, Kirito felt somewhat unnerved looking at Naotolis' form. Looking back over towards Aether, the crowd began to panic as three separate Naotolis lookalikes began to rush him from behind, as from the buildings were crawling hundreds if not thousands of Naotolis; all growling with screechy vocals, but the leader of the pack, being a silver blue specimen compared to the dull gray normal specimens, moved to grab Aether from behind as she slammed Aether into the podium as she overlooked all of the players before her.

"Well well well… All of you gathered here like a flock of sheep, all of you for our taking for own feast of VNA. It's a shame Aether didn't manage to warn you sooner, but then again, he's got nobody to blame but himself for why we're here." Naotolis spoke, as she loaded up a screenshot of Aether and Chronicler's fight from a day prior, with Aether in the losing end of the fight.

"This is what your beloved community manager was trying to fend off; he was trying to fend off the very entity who kept us in check after all of this time. Do none of you realize what happens to the prey when you get rid of the predator?" Naotolis asked, as several players began to take out their weapons as the Naotolis specimens facing the crowd from all angles were beginning to approach, as Naotolis herself laughed as she noticed how everyone was losing their patience. As she stepped down from Aether's back as she approached everyone, Aether was slowly moving to stand as he drew a large, staff-like weapon.

"I guess you all are getting impatient… Doesn't matter, though, I think you all get the point." Naotolis said, as her right eye shined as she jumped and bolted towards the inner depths of the city, as Aether raised his staff into the air and charged it with electricity as he moved to stand up, as he unleashed a storm of electrical bolts towards the Naotolis moving in on the crowd. Various players strong enough moved to go in for the kill against a Naotolis specimen if they could get the chance, with Kirito being pounced upon by a Naotolis, only for a bolt of electricity from Aether's staff to kill the specimen after him. Klein and Lisbeth, meanwhile, both scored a kill of their own as Klein pierced one specimen's eye with his bow, and Lisbeth uses a racial power to grab an incoming specimen with her claws and tear its head off to kill it.

As the specimens were being killed off, Aether slammed his staff down three times as the remaining specimens dropped dead. "EVERYONE! Keep calm, and allow me to finish what I am asking for you to do now that this incident has been made public." Aether said as the crowd was slow to pay attention back to him, as Kirito looked over towards him with a tranquil glare as Aether brought back the screens of Chronicler and Stormcloud.

"As I've stated, Chronicler and Stormcloud are who the Naotolis track to find their prey; the Naotolis themselves are the ones I ask of you to kill on sight. For every Naotolis specimen you kill, you will be rewarded with 100 gold a piece. If anybody even remotely manages to land a killing blow against Chronicler or Stormcloud, however, a reward of 10,000 platinum will be issued to whoever presents proof of their deaths at their own hands." Aether spoke up, as the crowd was now jeering with anger towards the three entities, although especially towards Naotolis now that they realized Naotolis was the most hostile of the three. Most of the crowd, however, switched between a focus on Naotolis, to a focus on Chronicler and Stormcloud as well as Kirito and Klein's eyes widened, as Lisbeth looked over at the two with concern.

"Something wrong?" Lisbeth asked Kirito and Klein, as Kirito nodded towards Lisbeth.

"Yes; we'll inform you when Asuna and I come over today."


	14. Chapter 13: Simply Grand

The night before, Nobuyuki was walking back home as he watched Stormcloud flying through the air, possibly just to take Damion and Suguha back home. Nobuyuki, groaning a bit to himself, only recalled how Ken had unceremoniously booted him out of the mansion of an estate that Ken lived at because of how paranoid Ken was being. Then again, Nobuyuki wasn't even going to bother staying in the same estate if it meant his sleep would be disturbed by the sound of a gun firing off.

"Stupid, lousy, inconceivable AIs! Why is my life a living hell because of beings like you?! Ken was paranoid as fuck because he thought Naotolis snuck in, but to nobody's surprise, the witch is nowhere to be found!" Nobuyuki began spouting out, as he looked back into the sky to see Stormcloud flying again. "And for goodness sakes FUCK OFF, you goddamn, overgrown, advanced weigeltisaurid!" Nobuyuki yelled into the sky, as he noticed something off about Stormcloud's flight pattern.

Stormcloud was flying in his direction all of a sudden, and Damion and Suguha were nowhere to be found all the while Stormcloud was roaring through the air as Nobuyuki screamed before bolting in the other direction to run and flee from the incoming dragon. Quickly finding a nearby alleyway to duck into as Stormcloud neared the ground, Nobuyuki tripped onto his belly as he quickly crawled into the alley as Stormcloud tried to get in to reach him, only for the massive wings on Stormcloud to prevent him from reaching in.

Jumping backwards as his wings extended outwards, Stormcloud jumped into the air and seemingly flew off. Nobuyuki, looking over towards where Stormcloud was, audibly flinched when he heard a pebble or two slide around the ground, only to look around and see what had terrified him in the form of something not very threatening at all.

Nobuyuki, approaching the creature on the ground, picked it up by the sides as he looked it over, "A-A baby ferret? Here?" Nobuyuki asked, only to not realize he made a mistake with how he picked it up as the ferret was briefly licking around his nose before biting down with sharp canines as Nobuyuki dropped the ferret onto the ground as he was quick to recoil backwards as he moved to cover his now bleeding nose with his hands to get the sudden jolt of pain to stop.

"Er, hey."

Nobuyuki was beginning to get angered a bit as he recovered from the small shock, as he looked towards the ferret to grab a nearby object to try and hit the weasel with. Nobuyuki didn't realize until he tried to get said object to budge, though, was that what he had grabbed onto couldn't be budged at all.

"Uh, I say hi, dude." The voice was more audibly clear to Nobuyuki now, as Nobuyuki turned around to look at what he had tried to grab; somebody's rather skinny, winter coat covered arm that for whatever reason felt to Nobuyuki as if it weighed a ton if not more. As the figure was hidden by the dark of the alley and the night, Nobuyuki's eyes widened as he wondered who exactly this person was. The mysterious man decided to hold a flashlight up to his face to make himself clear, and Nobuyuki looked even more freaked in response.

"… Er, let go of my arm, please. Look, uh, Sugou, is it, er…?" The man was trying to ask, as Nobuyuki blinked, but otherwise tried to answer despite how very Damion-like the man's eyes were, aside from the reddish colors being more akin to brown with this particular man.

"It's Nobuyuki…" Nobuyuki said, as the man raised an eye.

"… Er, Mr. Nobuyuki…?" The man asked, as Nobuyuki slapped his face with his hand after he briefly groaned from the quick jolt of pain from the fact his nose was still bleeding from the ferret, which moved over towards the man as the man moved to carefully lift the baby ferret by the back of the neck as he seemed to show off the near gray but mostly white ferret to Nobuyuki with a bit of a grin, to which Nobuyuki raised an eye as he gave a scowl.

"What are you laughing at?" Nobuyuki asked, to which the man busted up laughing.

"You're, uh, not supposed to hold a baby ferret by the sides unless you're, well, asking to be bitten by it! You're uh, supposed to hold it like so, er, see?" The man spoke up as Nobuyuki raised an eye as he moved to try and poke the ferret's nose to see how it would react; he only just then he wished he remember not to tempt fate, as the baby ferret bit his finger leaving Nobuyuki to back off bit by bit as he now had two bleeding spots on him now because of it.

"… Alright hillbilly, I'm not going to be playing your games, so you might as well just give me your name at the very least if you're insisting on keeping me here." Nobuyuki grumbled, as the man chuckled.

"Well, uh, for the record, you may, er, call me Martin, though I personally prefer being called, well, Marty for short." Martin introduced himself to Nobuyuki as Nobuyuki was nearly about to respond with some form of outburst only for the air to leave his head without him saying a word once the realization of who was speaking so had sunk in to him.

"Wait, Martin?! You mean the local school's custodian Martin?!" Nobuyuki asked, as Martin nodded. "How the bloody hell do you speak Japanese then like you are now? I was told you spoke it poorly!" Nobuyuki questioned, as Martin more darkly chuckled as he leered at Nobuyuki with his eyes turning feral in a few seconds; quickly getting Nobuyuki to shut up.

"Bitch you don't know how many times I've had to kill you for asking stupid questions." Martin spoke in a more clearer tone than normal, indicating the seriousness from which he spoke, as Nobuyuki moved to step away from Martin with caution and haste to avoid getting mauled by the guy.

"N-Now listen, Martin…? Can we come to reason like normal human beings here?" Nobuyuki asked as he moved a hand behind his back to reach for something from his pocket, all the while Martin chuckled.

"Don't even bother, Sugou-"

"Nobuyuki."

"Whatever, you sick fuck; point is, um, that flimsy excuse for your, er, "hand cannon" in your pocket isn't, uh, going to do jack shit." Martin spoke; Nobuyuki was beginning to feel unnerved by Martin's speech pattern than he was when Martin suddenly spoke more normally. Every once in a while Martin spoke as if he sounded uncertain, but he spoke with such an air of confidence and assurance that it made Nobuyuki feel that Martin already knew what the outcome of this would be.

"Why are you telling me this…? What do you know about this?!" Nobuyuki asked as he slowly moved back away from Martin as he was too busy getting creeped out by how calm and relaxed the guy sounded despite his speech issues. Martin, moving to walk forward with the ferret in his hands, as Nobuyuki turned around and bolted for his way back to his apartment…

… Only noticing too late that Stormcloud had been waiting for him above the alleyway, as the dragon flying up and swooping down towards Nobuyuki caused the panicked man to lunge towards the ground to avoid getting snatched up by him. As Nobuyuki regained his balance, he looked back towards Martin to see him, very slowly, walking towards him as Stormcloud circled around to try and snatch Nobuyuki again. As Nobuyuki got back up and ran as fast as he could, he looked around and noticed that Stormcloud had disappeared from his line of sight.

"Please let that dragon finally be gone…!" Nobuyuki yelped as he moved to quickly run as fast he could towards his apartment. Within the span of five minutes, he arrived back at the flight of stairs leading up to his apartment, as he was quick to walk up the flight as he fumbled with the keys to his apartment to move to quickly open the door…

… Only to see Stormcloud perched right above him as he freaked out, only to bite his own lip to keep himself silent, as he moved to unlock his apartment door as he was about to walk on inside to safety.

"Er, hello." Martin's voice could be heard, as Nobuyuki turned around to look towards him as he shrieked until he passed out as to the sheer fact Martin seemingly teleported into his own apartment. Falling flat onto the ground in exhaustion and panic, Martin was quick to grab Nobuyuki and drag him into the apartment, with Stormcloud watching from behind.

"Now then, er, Sugou, with you back here, time for me to leave my mark." Martin spoke up, as he looked over towards several computer towers linked together and showcasing some data collected and saved on not Chronicler, Stormcloud, nor Naotolis, but three other entities which included Martin himself as a separate entity of sorts, at least, from what he could see.

Snapping his fingers as a large, burly set of armor manifested behind him in a saurian shape, Martin had the entity smash the various computer towers owned by Nobuyuki before it disappeared near immediately. Martin, moving to leave the apartment, walked outside as he looked over towards the confused Stormcloud. Walking down the stairs as Stormcloud regarded him with confusion, Martin walked down the stairs humming an odd tune as he walked out of the complex. Stormcloud, meanwhile, perched at the very top of the apartment complex and moved to fall asleep relatively unnoticed.

Sometime in the morning, Nobuyuki woke up with a very heavy feeling on his forehead, waking up to take in his surroundings and looking around and noticing his apartment was rather trashed looking. What he couldn't fully take in, however, was that it looked even more trashed than what it was during Martin's little intrusion. Upon coming to his senses and moving to a cabinet to find some painkillers for him to take, Nobuyuki saw a sticky note regarding the destroyed computer towers, first gasping in shock as to the fact expensive property was destroyed, before looking at the note with a furious gaze.

"'No spoilers, please.'…" Nobuyuki read from the note, as he crumbled it up into a ball and tossed it into a trashcan as he moved to clean up the computer towers and salvage whatever parts he could from the trashed hardware. Noticing that at least some of the hard drives were still intact, Nobuyuki grabbed them into a bag for him to take to work to present to Ken, hoping that at least some valuable data was still on them, as Nobuyuki grumbled to himself as he cleaned up whatever was reduced to nothing but junk at this point.

"Okay, whoever that idiot was that is responsible for this, I assure him he will most definitely pay for this." Nobuyuki said, as he put the trash into a separate bag and moved to walk outside. As he opened the door, Martin stood outside leaning on what appeared to be a giant shield as Nobuyuki's whole expression freaked at the sight of him.

"Top of the mornin', Sugou." Martin greeted, as Nobuyuki just stared with shock turned into disgust.

"Seriously how are you even able to speak Japanese! My boss flat out lied to me if you're speaking to me at all!" Nobuyuki said, as Martin chuckled a bit as he pulled out a tag from around his neck normally hidden in his heavy winter coat.

"Universal translator. Works wonders for dealing with, well, folks like you." Martin said, as Nobuyuki moved to slam the door on Martin and stay inside of his apartment for a while. Martin, chuckling a bit, seemingly teleported a holographic projector out of his shield's front as he placed the shield of his in front of Nobuyuki's door.

"Bloody pest! I'm reporting you to Ken the mere instant I can get a chance to grab my phone!" Nobuyuki said, as he looked around for his cellphone as he was unable to find it inside of his apartment. The thought occurred to him, though, that Martin was able to effectively teleport on a dime, so Nobuyuki acted out of paranoia by moving to open his front door again.

What he was greeted with was the sight of a Shanghai Maglev running along its rails at a further away distance, leading to Nobuyuki quickly shutting his door due to the fact the sight seemed too real especially when he heard the sound of the train approaching at an absurd speed. Nobuyuki's heart was racing as he tried to recollect himself, as he looked towards the door with anger.

"Martin, by any chance do you have my cellphone?!" Nobuyuki yelled.

"Maybe." The simple fact Martin possibly had it encouraged him to open the door, as he opened it and saw an… unusual rendition of himself featuring lengthy, blond hair, a golden crown and royal attire, and fairy-like wings wielding a two-handed sword. At first, both Nobuyuki and his fantasy based doppelganger admired each other, but when a massive demon appeared from the latter with massive jaws agape, Nobuyuki slammed the door on his other self as he could hear the bone crunching and blood spraying of his alleged other self getting mauled by some freak of nature, with the sounds of an Elephant's bellow being heard as the creature's roar.

"Martin this isn't funny you sick fuck!" Nobuyuki yelled from inside his apartment, as he finally opened the door while moving to throw a punch at something only to end up punching himself out with his own fist as he recoiled backwards and knocked out again. Martin removed his shield from the doorframe as he groaned as to what he was seeing.

"Well point's proven; you clearly have no memories from your alternate self." Martin said with his eyes feral as it was before, all the while Martin's phone rang and he moved to pull it out from his pocket, with him finding it unusual why the cellphone he had appeared to be that of someone else's entirely. Answering it, Martin began to talk to someone on the phone all the while Nobuyuki became conscious enough to realize his cellphone was with him the entire time as he moved to quickly speed dial Ken to warn him of this situation.

"What is it now, Nobuyuki?"

"It's him! That Martin PRICK you warned me about is worse than we could've thought him to be!" Nobuyuki warned, all the while Ken raised an eye.

"… How worse are we talking here?" Ken asked, as Nobuyuki was quick to try and take a photograph of Martin from behind, only to be greeted by the mysterious armor manifesting from behind Martin and lunging at him; by the time Nobuyuki got a photo, the armor vanished, so Nobuyuki sent the photo of what he managed to get towards Ken. Ken, looking over it, looked rather freaked by what he saw, but otherwise maintained his outer calm demeanor.

"… Nobuyuki, there's going to be a change of plans for when you get back to work, but I'm going to need you to hurry back here alive before Martin decides to make another move! Just drop whatever else you're doing and get back here immediately!" Ken ordered of Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki moved to grab the other hard drives still intact as Ken could audibly be heard slapping his face from the growling groan he made.

"NOW, NOBUYUKI!" Ken demanded, as Nobuyuki was quick to get back on his feet and move to head out the door with the other hard drives, just passing by Martin as he did.

"What's the hurry, Sugou? Got something I'm looking for?" Martin asked as his eyes turned feral again as he pinned Nobuyuki to a wall, with one of the hard drives falling out of Nobuyuki's bag with a special label on it compared to the others. Martin, taking notice of this, looked over at Nobuyuki with a coy expression.

"Tell ya what; I'm going to give you, um, say, a five minute head start, and then, er, you'll just give me that little hard drive right, er, there! That'll be all I need." Martin asked as he let go of Nobuyuki. Nobuyuki didn't even waste the chance as he ran down the flight of stairs in a panic as he ran off towards the main streets to head to his office. Martin, picking up the hard drive, read the label on it and noticed how it was specifically for data contained exclusively for Damion.

"So, that's what that Lowell nutcase was planning the whole time with me back in the good ole' days, wasn't it? Trying to breed my own Ultimorian DNA with a mortal surrogate just to try and produce a child that he could use as a weapon." Martin said as he looked over at Stormcloud, "Still kind of absolutely livid about their sexist behavior regarding who I had to bed, and the fact I had worked so hard to give her free will and a mind of her own only for her life force to be robbed so gruesomely but…" Martin said as he choked up a little as he tried to concentrate as he saw Chronicler and Suguha downstairs walking outside to head out for a bit of a date with each other.

"I'll… I'll see to it that whenever I get the remote chance to be able to, that the day of the dance for my son will be nothing short of an absolute blast for him…" Martin said to himself, as he revealed a device on his left arm to cause his shield to be hidden away, as he himself disappeared without a trace leaving Stormcloud to look as to where he was with confusion.

On the back of Nobuyuki's mind, he had to wonder to himself regarding Martin; why did he try so hard as to hold such a vendetta against him like that? Just who was he when compared to the other AIs he had known about for a while now, including the likes of Chronicler, Stormcloud, and Naotolis?

Perhaps we'll see exactly what I'm referring to with my relation to this world and others like it, all in due time…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (AN: Now then you're probably wondering what exactly happened here, considering I've never had a chance to truly elaborate on the plans for my fics as a whole in this regard, considering back when I originally made Truth and Ideals, I was sort of just getting back into writing fics again and didn't quite know what I was doing at the time. Essentially what you'll be seeing in every fic I make beginning with either Chapter 12-14 is the introduction of somebody that more or less clashes with the main cast prior, but whether they ultimately become part of the main cast is not guaranteed considering something that happens in Truth and Ideals when I first began doing that. Martin is essentially SAO: Special Edition's answer to Regulus from Truth and Ideals.
> 
> Unlike Regulus he isn't exactly a serious fellow by default considering Regulus was a rather serious fellow when he's first introduced. Martin can have shades of seriousness especially considering what ultimately made him into what he is, and the fact I decided to drop the bomb earlier than I expected with Martin being the narrator of this fic and possibly others as well. If by any chance you look at my DA gallery for reference pics on Martin, you'll probably need to look under tags such as Grandis, 'G', Magnus, or related variations because of the fact most of the time he's referred to as those names instead. Although, while he isn't exactly a serious fellow outright, he's perhaps the darkest when one takes into account things I don't immediately reveal in his artwork descriptions on DA.
> 
> Though in terms of what the deal with him harassing the (so far innocent) Sugou Nobuyuki, it's based off of something I've done in either now deleted fics or defunct backstory details regarding Martin; years ago Martin was more of a direct Author Avatar than he is nowadays, so my immense hatred for Nobuyuki back then is why Martin acts the way he does; considering Martin's backstory and how it functions, he still has vague memories of his original encounter with Nobuyuki, and the reason Martin refers to him as "Sugou" is because I didn't know that for some odd reason SAO tends to love using the last names more than the first for whatever reason which if it's meant to sound honorable... canon Nobuyuki does not deserve anything honorable to say the least, but I digress.)


	15. Chapter 14: The Hermit King

It was a seemingly ordinary day for everyone else so far. It was early in the morning, and everything seems to have calmed down after Martin and Stormcloud's nonsense with Nobuyuki the night before and not that long ago. For one other man, though, the ordeal with Martin today was not over just yet.

Hearing a phone ring at a counter at his workplace, a tall, dark skinned man answered the phone to see who it was; "Hello, this is the Dicey Café and Pizza Shop, how may I help you?" The man responded as if by routine.

"Yes, I would like to, uh, place an order for, er, delivery and such." Martin's voice could be heard on the other end. There was a slight bit of static on his end of the line, but what it was is uncertain, but the dark skinned man disregarded it.

"Alright, what would you like?"

"Hmmm… Let's see here…" Martin said as a he tried to think on his order, "I would like to place an order for a large, deep dish pepperoni pizza with stuffed crust, 10 orders of your largest, um, box of chicken wings, hold the bones, and… do you, er, serve alcohol by any chance?" Martin began to list off, as the man on the other end blinked.

"Yes, this is Dicey Café and all on the other end of the shop, what would you like?"

"Hmmm… By any chance do you have, um, 'The Heart of Darkness' in stock?"

"Yes sir."

"Good… As for anything extra, well, let's just say extra thick on the stuffing on the pizza crust and we're good to go for the order." Martin finished, as the man nodded on his end.

"Yes sir, anything else?"

"Yes; 30 minutes or it's free, as per usual with these sort of orders." Martin said, as the man nodded.

"Alright then sir, I'll be sure to have your order ready on time. That'll be 150,000 yen when it arrives." The man said, as Martin nodded as well before the two hung up on each other. The man, looking over towards the phone again, quickly dialed a friend of his and pulled up a number in the form of Asuna and called her in hope she would respond.

"Yes, Asuna? I'd like to ask a favor if the rumors are true about a certain someone living with you at the moment."

Asuna blinked as she received the call from this person. "Andrew? What's the occasion?" Asuna asked, as she could hear something on top of the apartment complex moving around. Asuna, groaning a little bit, looked back at her phone once she realized why Andrew had called. "It's about Stormcloud isn't it?" Asuna asked, as Andrew nodded.

"Yes; could I possibly have him assist with delivering an order to a client that lives in god knows where in the wilderness within 30 minutes?" Andrew asked, as Asuna blinked as her eyes widened a bit with intrigue.

"The mystery guy that has been exploiting the 30 minutes or it's free rule? The guy who also lives in the middle of nowhere? Sure, I can possibly help with that." Asuna said as she walked out of the apartment and looked up towards the roof where Stormcloud was. Seeing the pitch black dragon roosted atop the building, he looked down towards Asuna with a questioning gaze.

"Could you possibly assist a friend of mine with an order he needs to fill?" Asuna asked Stormcloud, as Stormcloud raised an eye at her, before giving a loud call before taking off into the air and flying off. Asuna wondered if Stormcloud had answered her or not, but considering what direction Stormcloud was flying in, he seemed to be complying.

Back with Damion and Suguha, as the two of them are walking through the park towards a forest trail, Suguha was blushing immensely as was Damion. Both of them, holding the other's hand as they walked, didn't seem so much as bothered by the fact they would come across as a couple to anybody who would see them, but rather something else related to that.

' _Did we seriously kiss last night and put no actual energy or effort into it?'_ Damion thought to himself.

' _I can't believe I was such an idiot for not trying to put affection into our kiss last night! I'm hoping he isn't mad…'_ Suguha thought to herself, as Suguha decided to, carefully, gesture Damion to a halt for the two of them to sit down on a bench in the middle of a trail within a wooded area. The trees and thicket were not overly dense, but they would be approaching that area sooner or later. Some of the ground appeared to have small tunnels formed by some burrowing animal, with the smell in the air rather unclean not only due to some strange musk, but the smell of something dead nearby.

"Damion… Are you alright…? You sort of zoned out as we walked and led me out towards here with you looking possessed the whole time…" Suguha brought up, as Suguha was about to move to brush off the bench of any dust, before Damion stopped her and did so himself by dusting off the bench with his worn out gauntlets.

Damion, looking at Suguha as he moved to try and undo the security straps on his gauntlets, tried to figure out what to say to Suguha about last night's little kiss. Suguha, moving to help undo the straps on Damion's gauntlets with a bit of hesitation, softly slide them aside once the security straps were completely undone and held Damion's bare hands with her own as she looked him in the eyes; Damion flinched when he saw the look Suguha had. Suguha, moving to have Damion sit down on the bench as she moved to sit herself down next to him, slowly began to speak as Chronicler looked visibly more nervous at the moment.

"Damion… calm down… take a deep breath… a-and…" Suguha tried to say to Damion, but cut herself short as she looked visibly nervous. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes and parted her lips as she waited for his response. Damion, audibly gulping a little in nervousness, slowly closed his eyes and moved in closer all the while dragging Suguha closer towards himself.

' _This is what she wants, don't screw it up this time...!'_ Damion shouted at himself mentally, as the gap between his own lips and Suguha's was getting thinner by the second. Damion's eyes shot open when he detected auditory movement nearby; his eyes going feral out of sheer instinct as his body felt rigid in terms of his continued hold on Suguha's hands. Suguha, feeling completely safe with what she could tell was in the area, finished the job of what she was asking for.

Her lips connecting with Damion's only added to Damion's shocked state, as Damion's hands struggled in Suguha's grip but Suguha had her fingers carefully stroke around his hands to reassure him. Damion's intensified thoughts were distracted immensely by the sweet, soft feeling of Suguha's lips enticing him to relax and let go his current worries. Unable to help it, Damion gave in and returned Suguha's kiss as his eyes closed again. His hands, calming down with their frenzied trembling, intertwined his fingers with hers to reassure Suguha that he's calming down.

Suguha was lost in the kiss at the moment now that Damion had calmed; Damion was blinded by Suguha's intimate desires; he could feel Suguha pressing her body up against him, and Damion was beginning to get slightly nervous now with how far this may or may not go. Thankfully, though, Suguha was merciful by allowing Damion to break the kiss so he could regain his breath and calmer demeanor. Suguha, opening her eyes to look at Damion with a smile, looked over towards where she set down his gauntlets and her eyes widened as she bit her lips to hide a sound she so wanted to make.

"… What… Did I do a bad job…?" Damion asked as he panted a little bit, before Suguha gestured with her head to nod towards something behind Damion. Damion, blinking in confusion, looked over towards his gauntlets as his eyes widened; both out of surprise, but also increased confusion and interest.

A small, brown critter was staring up at Damion with curiosity, all the while its front paws were placed on Damion's gauntlets. Damion, noticing the ferret and moving to, very cautiously, grab the fuzz ball by the back of the neck and lift it up with his other hand moving to hold onto the bottom of the ferret, looked directly into the small carnivore's eyes as the ferret just continued to stare. It wasn't a very big ferret, but it did look rather overfed at the moment due to how chubby it looked.

Suguha covered her mouth with her hands to avoid making a sound as she watched, as Damion moved to carefully place the ferret in his lap and see what it would do next. The ferret, sniffing around and making a bit of a hiss-like call towards something, seemed to grab the attention of a noticeably larger, overgrown adult ferret that was in the nearby vicinity just waiting. The older ferret didn't seem to bother with Damion and Suguha and went straight to grab one of the former's gauntlets in its jaws and off of the bunch, running off with one of them as it did.

"H-Hey!" Damion yelled as he moved to stand as Suguha was left holding the smaller baby in her lap as she finally let out an awe towards the small fuzzy, didn't immediately following Damion yet so she could make sure she was holding the baby correctly. Grabbing it by the back of the neck and holding its lower side with her other hand, Suguha moved to look towards Damion's other gauntlet, and noticed it was also stolen by another ferret that was chasing after Damion in a hurry.

"H-Hey! Wait up for me please!" Suguha said as she moved to carefully follow Damion and the weasels while carefully holding onto the baby ferret in a secure grip. As Suguha cleared the area, something moved again near the bench as claw marks from something much larger dug into the soil beside the bench.

' _Let them wait and think as to what might happen rather than what will…'_ Naotolis thought to herself as she was hiding in plain sight via a cloaked form of hers which rendered her practically invisible, as she moved to prowl through the area like a predatory animal in search of fresh game.

Up ahead further in the trail that Damion and Suguha were following the ferrets on, Damion stopped himself as he waited for the ferrets to realize he stopped moving, and waiting for them to reach a long enough distance to where the ferrets now hid within an old, rather run down shack of a building in which a small hole next to the door was open for them. Suguha, catching up to Damion with the baby ferret, watched as Damion moved to crouch down as he began to give a squeaking type of sound out towards the ferrets in the rundown house.

Moving to grab something from his pocket, he continued to make sounds to try and draw the attention of the ferrets so he could get his gauntlets back. The overgrown ferret, peeking its head out of the building with the gauntlets in its jaws, moved out towards Damion with it as did the other, smaller ferret with the other gauntlet very slowly. As he moved to reach for a treat from his pouch in the form of some raw meat, he set it onto the ground just quick enough for the ferrets to grab it after setting his gauntlets down first. With haste, Damion grabbed his gauntlets and re-equipped them back onto himself and securing the straps on them to make sure his runes were locked up again by them.

"So where is this place?" Suguha asked while still holding onto the baby ferret; moving to carefully pet it with a free hand now that she was cradling it with the other. Damion, looking back over towards Suguha and the ferret she was holding, moved to carefully poke a finger onto the ferret's wet nose, which got a playful response from the baby ferret due to it now trying to play with Damion's hand in a frenzied manner. Suguha giggled at this, but was taken out of it for the moment when she heard Stormcloud's roaring call above in the sky.

As the dragon landed on the ground with Andrew holding onto numerous boxes of a mix of a single box of pizza, numerous chicken wing boxes, and Andrew carrying a small bottle of liquor that was the "Heart of Darkness" brew, he got off of Stormcloud and moved to walk up towards Damion and Suguha.

"So you must be Damion then, nice to meet you." Andrew said towards Damion, all the while walking over towards the door of the rundown building with the boxes of food as Damion looked at him and blinked.

"How do you know who I am? How did Stormcloud agree to take you here?" Damion asked, as Andrew chuckled.

"Asuna has her ways." Andrew said as he looked over towards the door and knocked on it. After a long silence, and some small whining from the ferret Suguha was holding, the door opened up and revealed the rather tall but medium height man that was Martin, still heavily dressed in a winter coat despite the heat outside or even inside the building for that matter. Martin, looking over towards Andrew, sighed as he pulled out his wallet.

"So, er, you, uh… actually arrive early for once, typical…" Martin said as he pulled out the necessary amount of yen to pay for the food with to Andrew. Andrew, giving the numerous boxes to Martin for him to take inside, exhaled a sigh of relief as he also handed Martin the bottle of liquor in his hands as well. "Just take it easy on yourself if you truly insist on wanting to get here on time." Martin said to Andrew, as Andrew chuckled.

"Don't thank me, thank these two." Andrew said, as he pointed Martin's attention towards Damion and Suguha, as Damion's eyes widened as he had a glance at Martin's eyes as did Martin's in return. Suguha also noted the similarities as she was careful to not drop the ferret in her hands from surprise. As Andrew left the scene on Stormcloud's back, Martin narrowed his gaze towards Damion and Suguha.

"Come on in, just don't mind the mess for now since I've not been in the best of moods as of late…" Martin said to the two in a more serious voice, as Martin opened the locks on the door to let the two inside, all the while Damion and Suguha glanced at each other, before nodding and following Martin inside.

Inside the building was a lot of rags and sheets scattered across the place like a makeshift carpet and insulation, with the building being cut off in some areas as to leave small room for a bathroom, but otherwise most of the place was a single room consisting of a lot of loose pipes scattered across the place, cardboard boxes from previous orders being used as housing for ferrets sleeping inside of them now, an old television with surprisingly functional electricity, a water tap that was kept clean, and a bed consisting of a lot of ragged blankets and one singular, larger electric blanket. Next to the wall, there were also food and water dispensing devices for the ferrets as well, with a litterbox further away across the room.

Damion, moving to find somewhere to sit, moved to sit beside a cardboard box house for the ferrets, as Suguha moved to sit beside Damion since the smell of the place was beginning to make her uneasy a little. With Martin sitting down on the opposite side of the floor, he moved to set the boxes of chicken wings down on the floor and opening the up. Whistling a bit for the attention of the ferrets in the house, Damion and Suguha watched as what appeared to be two dozen ferrets moving into view towards the boxes of chicken wings, with Suguha letting go of the baby ferret for it to join them.

"So I suppose you're wondering about my poor living conditions…" Martin asked to break the silence towards Suguha, as Suguha blinked a bit.

"You're… You're Martin the custodian? I never imagined you lived in a rundown place like this…" Suguha spoke up, as Martin looked around and sighed.

"Trust me there are many surprises about me, but right now I'm not asking for sympathy unless both of you truly feel I've earned it." Martin spoke up, his tone clear due to the rather seriousness of the fact he was talking to Damion and Suguha this soon than what he expected. Damion, looking at all of the ferrets, noticed something odd about them; the near pitch black-like dark brown on their coats and signature masks, Damion noticed something that wouldn't be obvious to someone like Suguha right away.

"European polecats." Damion spoke up, as Suguha looked over at him and blinked in curiosity. "Most of these ferrets are actually European polecats with a few of their domestic subspecies mixed in with the group and the majority of the group being hybrid offspring of the two varieties." Damion explained, as Martin nodded.

"Good eye for knowledge I see. That aside… would you care for a bite to eat? You look starved." Martin spoke, as he grabbed the box containing his deep dish pizza and showing it to Damion as Damion examined the pizza inside to see if he would like it, or even stay long enough to even eat it. Suguha gave a look suggesting for Damion to take a slice at the very least, as Damion sighed and did just that and slowly began to eat hungrily. Much of the thickness of the stuffed crust and the meatiness of the toppings didn't seem to faze him, though, so much as the overwhelming taste of freshly made food overwhelming him due to the fact he rarely ate as much as he should anyways.

"… Glad to see you like it." Martin said as he looked over towards Suguha, as Suguha passed the offer for a slice as well by gesturing to Martin regarding the baby ferrets gathering around her lap after some of them were done eating the chicken wings. Suguha giggled a bit with the playfulness of the ferrets, as she moved to try and pet one of them, picking up the chubby one from before safely as she moved to cradle it again.

As Damion finished eating the slice of pizza he had, he had a careful look at Martin to simply try and figure out exactly who this guy was. "So if I may ask, sir… Who exactly are you…?" Damion asked, as Martin looked over towards Damion with his eyes briefly turning feral, if merely to get a reaction from Damion as his eyes turned feral in response to Martin's petty threatening gaze. Suguha looked at the two with concern, before she listened in as Martin chuckled a bit dryly.

"Why, the answer is simple, Damion Eriksen… That surname of yours; it belonged to your mother, and I should know that for a fact." Martin said as his eyes calmed down and looked over towards his ferrets with a calmer gaze as he moved to pet the overgrown ferret now in his lap. Damion's eyes widened, as he wondered what exactly Martin was implying.

"Truth be told, Damion, you behave more like an Eriksen because you lack the desire for violence and adventure with a Mollohan like myself." Martin began to finish up saying, as he looked towards Damion and Suguha with a serious gaze to ensure he had both of their attention on him now.

"Damion Eriksen, I am your father; Martin W. Mollohan."


	16. Chapter 15: Ignorance is Bliss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (AN: This chapter took longer to upload than necessary. Why? This is the first chapter in SAO: Special Edition to contain an H-scene in it. In the FF.net version, I have posted the censored version already, but I've yet to post the uncensored version here until now that it's finally ready to upload.)

Kazuto didn’t normally stay logged in for this long of a time. For much of the early morning before Damion woke up, Kazuto was logged into Sword Art Online preparing for things as if some kind of war was about to break out, and that he had been drafted into it. Ever since he had logged in for the first time today, he had done nothing but take on quests from NPCs, clear them, and level grind against mobs both normal and strong.

Within five hours at this point, Kirito had went from somewhere around Level 90, all the way up to Level 125. The ongoing event with the newly added demon race had an experience multiplier added for not only monster kills, but also for quests and gathering as well. As a result of the event, Kirito’s dedicated playing session had caused him and many others to level up faster than normal.

Kirito, though, could feel his mind was getting too heavily invested in the game at this rate. Riding across the volcanic plains of a region astride the back of a griffin, Kirito’s focus was on the fact something wasn’t normal with the mounts in the game. Normally, a griffin would be able to fly indefinitely so long as he didn’t enter a PVP zone that didn’t allow for mounts at all. However, this was not a PVP zone, and instead the griffin showcased many new features to it that normally all but one type of mount lacked; stats and vitality bars that were very similar to the low tier horses.

“Come on, regain your stamina already…!” Kirito cursed to his griffin regarding its current inability to fly at the moment. As Kirito rode through the region, a movement shook the ground as a large, giant worm-like creature erupted from the volcanic soul. Kirito, jumping off of the back of the griffin as he drew out dual swords to strike at the volcanic worm, hacked and slashed away at its HP bar before realizing it didn’t agro on him immediately yet; it instead went right for the Griffin.

Kirito, thinking something bad was going to happen to his prized, albino and crystalline mount he once knew was unable to be killed, was surprised to see the griffin let loose a loud roar towards the worm, which rendered the worm unable to move as it took a small amount of damage. In a twist of fate, the Griffin flew up and tackled the worm with its avian head; grappling onto its throat with its powerful front talons as it smashed the worm’s face in by pecking at it until the remainder of its HP hit zero and the worm collapsed and curled up on the ground dead.

Kirito looked at his griffin in surprise; on his UI, the griffin had gained experience points from the confrontation and leveled up immediately from an incredibly low Level 1, all the way boosted up to Level 43. At first Kirito wondered how his mount gained so many levels at all when he thought it shouldn’t have stood a chance at all since it lacked the advantages of a human player, as Kirito pulled up a window on the griffin’s stats; 70% of the griffin’s stats were translated based off of Kirito’s own stats, and the remaining 30% of its stats were based solely off of the griffin’s own inherit stats.

“Amazing… I wonder if this is what horse users had to deal with considering their dedication to their mounts.” Kirito mumbled a bit, before the griffin returned to him and Kirito jumped back onto its back. The griffin’s stamina gauge, much larger than it was before, allowed for Kirito to take off into the air on its back again as he flew straight up into the air on the half avian half mammalian beast. With Kirito spotting his destination at a colder forest below the volcanic region’s elevation, Kirito grinned as he steered the griffin downwards as he dove on the beast’s back.

Flying down in a freefall towards the ground, Kirito steered up towards a horizontal plain and flew off into the icy forest region at a speed much faster than normally possible without this maneuver. As he flew, Kirito had to wake himself up from his long session of having played the game. On his UI over the past three hours, he had seen mysterious mobs appear in the form of dull gray, humanoid monsters which he later learned were the mysterious Naotolis entities Ken had warned the community about. As much as Ken had officially made Chronicler and Stormcloud public enemy #1, Ken had honesty about Naotolis though, so Ken seemed to have more intentions than simply getting back at Chronicler.

Kirito, landing his griffin on a snowy summit where no enemies spawned at all, clicked a portion of the UI which caused his griffin to get comfortable where it had perched and enter a resting position. Up ahead was a relatively isolated area from much of the player base; due to a silent patch in the way mounts worked, players were beginning to get riled up against Stormcloud because at this moment, Stormcloud, as well as Kirito’s griffin, were one of the few owned flying mounts in the game now that all mounts were now mortal in a sense; this whole region was only safe to enter if you had a flying mount to begin with.

The enemies posed little issue aside from the field boss that spawned further up ahead, since they were approximately 20 levels lower than Kirito right now, and the field boss was only Level 123. Kazuto might be a tad higher level, and the field boss, as he pulled it up in the bestiary, was a bronze class boss and hence could be easily killed in a solo fight, the boss in question was known among the higher level players as being a much more challenging fight than the rest up until this point.

However, something on the back of Kirito’s mind was beginning to make him agitated at the moment; his frustration with Ken forcing him into playing the game more intensely than he was before was not helping his stress at the moment. The fact he was playing for so long and facing various bronze class and sometimes even silver class bosses depending on his luck was beginning to weigh down on Kirito’s fatigue. After a few seconds of deciding whether to continue or not, Kirito noticed the timer on his UI stated he was safe to log out now, so that his own items and equipment were safe from other players or enemies on the map. Logging out of the game, his avatar disappeared first before his griffin disappeared as well.

Kazuto, rubbing his sore temples as he moved to slowly stand up from his computer seat and stretch, looked and seemed rather worn out from a long playing session, and moved to head outside for a moment to calm his nerves. Grabbing a cigarette pack and lighter on his way out, he could feel something grab at the back of his shirt from behind, as he looked behind him to see none other than Ken himself behind him. Kazuto, taking in the reminder that he was essentially forced into staying in proximity of the man because of their jobs, was at least thankful it was only here and not anywhere else.

“Breaking the law simply by laying a hand on you yet alone near you I may be, but if you’re going to have a smoke mind if I at least join in because at this rate we’re going south with some developments that have shown up.” Ken questioned Kazuto, as Kazuto groaned a bit as he continued to walk outside towards the balcony of the office. Having a large, nice view of the skyline with only the Tokyo Skytree getting in the way in terms of tall structures, Kazuto was quick to grab a cigarette and begin to light it; Ken wasted no time in drawing out a larger cigar to ignite as both Kirigayas inhaled from their respective stimulant, and then exhaled a raspy, smoke filled breath of air out.

An awkward silence filled the air with the two grown men; both of them gazed out into the sky as if the two were searching for something, and while they didn’t acknowledge it, but Nobuyuki’s presence sitting in a chair behind them was not entirely unnoticed considering the man’s twitching, nervous behavior at the moment.

“You do realize he’s just sitting there, right?” Kazuto asked, breaking the silence as Ken let out an exhausted sigh as he looked over towards Nobuyuki with an aside glance.

“He’s harmless in the long run; he knows full well he’s at the bottom of the food chain, and he is well aware he’s surrounded by predators who won’t hesitate to do away with him.” Ken spoke up, before looking over towards Kazuto with a curious gaze. “Your wedding is soon, isn’t it?” Ken asked, as Kazuto remained quiet for a moment all the while giving a glare towards Nobuyuki.

“Yeah, just both you and him stay out of it.” Kazuto spoke, as his phone went off and he got a text, oddly enough from Ken himself; quickly noticing the cellphone in Ken’s pocket, Ken had given him a delayed message telling him to head home early. “… Good, now I can just relax in my mind knowing you’re gone for the moment.” Kazuto said, not even thanking Ken as Ken remained motionless with his hand in his pocket all the while Kazuto trashed his cigarette and left inside to prepare to leave. Nobuyuki, looking over towards Kazuto the whole time, did not notice Ken approaching and thus was caught off guard when he was lift up by the neck by the older man.

“Now then with the bastard out of the way, what the hell happened with you and Martin?!”

It wasn’t long until Kazuto had hurried home; he was frustrated; he couldn’t figure out why Ken even called him in on a day off for such a short amount of time, yet alone the fact Ken didn’t even really seem to need him for anything whereas considering what was going on something was amiss; Nobuyuki was horrified by something, Ken was too quiet for his own good, and as Kazuto moved to sit on the couch in the living room of his apartment to try and relax for what felt like minutes...

… He couldn’t help but feel like he caught someone’s attention; in his crotch he could feel something, but right now Kazuto’s tired eyes were only able to hazily look over towards the source. His gaze warmed up as he looked towards Asuna right beside him; Asuna, moving to peck Kazuto on the cheek and nuzzle her head against his, moved to place her hands on Kazuto’s groin as she began to work away at the belt keeping her from undoing his pants.

Kazuto didn’t know what to truly say; his mind was losing focus, and his ability to properly think was thrown off balance when a sudden feeling of bliss hit his mind. Asuna had moved her head down to face Kazuto’s growing erection, now that it was freed from his pants. Asuna, grabbing it as she stroked it to help it get hard, noticed how Kazuto was beginning to get lost in the feeling of pleasure. Asuna smiled when she felt Kazuto brush her hair out of the way of her face as he looked down at her, as she moved to drop her pants down and move her panties out of the way to reveal her aching pussy.

As Kazuto had his eyes closed with a sharp hiss as he felt the tip of his cock poke at the entrance of Asuna’s inner core, Kazuto gave a half conscious nod to Asuna before he could feel his throbbing cock slowly being pushed inside of Asuna as she had forced herself down on his penis to fully have her vagina walls engulf his dick. Asuna was looking at Kazuto in his eyes once he finally opened them. With Asuna sitting in Kazuto’s lap, she gently brushed some loose strands of hair out of Kazuto’s face, before she allowed herself to move her hips up and down Kazuto’s length.

As her arms wrapped around Kazuto’s neck, as Kazuto’s arms in turn wrapped around her waist, the two could be heard breathing heavily with a heated breath; Kazuto’s cock twitched inside of Asuna’s inner walls, as Asuna could feel her aching sex begin to tighten around Kazuto’s dick. Even though it had been some time since they last had a chance for sexual intimacy, Kazuto and Asuna looked at each other with their eyes glazed over in pleasure, before they slowly moved in to kiss each other. Kazuto’s arms wrapped around Asuna’s ass as he helped bounce Asuna on his dick, before Asuna suddenly gasped sharply as her climax suddenly hit her; Kazuto let out a low grunt as his climax hit him in return, as his seed exploded into Asuna’s aching core.

Everything for the next minute was nothing but blank, emptiness surrounded by joy; slowly catching his breath as he could tell Asuna was doing the same, Asuna could be felt moving to stand up and walk over towards the computer the living room had, and preparing to log into Sword Art Online. Kazuto didn’t want to pretend he didn’t know what happened; he saw this happening a mile away sooner or later the moment he got home, he just didn’t know when it would happen.

“So why did you decide to have sex with me the moment I got home…?” Kazuto asked Asuna as Asuna was facing the monitor as it was booting up Sword Art Online and the login screen appeared; Asuna kept her focus to herself as she didn’t notice Kazuto regaining his senses to move to embrace Asuna from behind; his hands moving to place themselves against Asuna’s belly. Asuna, turning to look at Kazuto with a few tears falling from her eyes, was slowly stopped from beginning to cry with her tears being wiped away by a hand from Kazuto before her.

“Did something happen, Asuna?” Kazuto asked as his partner was being quiet on him as she took a deep breath before finally beginning to speak.

“Positive.” Asuna said, simply, as Kazuto’s eyes widened by a small amount.

“… E-Excuse me…?” Kazuto asked; he already had an idea as to what had happened, but he needed to hear the confirmation loud and clear to truly believe it was happening.

“I took a test this morning while you were at work and it came out positive; Kirgaya Kazuto…” Asuna said, as she moved to place a finger on Kazuto’s lips to make sure he was quiet. “You are going to be a daddy.” Asuna, finally answered, all the while Kazuto’s eyes opened up bright and joyful upon hearing those words; lifting up Asuna into the air above her seat in joy, he lifted her off of her feet and into his arms as he could be heard laughing a little slowly, and then as Asuna was laughing happily at a more noticeably louder tone, Kazuto allowed his mind to fall into happiness and the while he moved his head down to nuzzle Asuna’s neck, all the while Asuna wrapped her arms around the back side of his shoulders as she helped herself ease into his grasp.

The two sharing a long, passionate kiss as they enjoyed the moment at hand; Asuna was happy knowing her partner was having such joy right now, and Kazuto was happy that Asuna was just as overjoyed as he was for finally preparing to truly settle down after how long they had known each other. Kazuto, moving to gently place Asuna down for her to sit back on the chair again, was calming down as his happy expression stayed as he looked at her.

“Though, um… that still didn’t answer my question… why did you decide to have sex with me a moment ago?” Kazuto asked, as Asuna playfully threw a cushion into Kazuto’s face as Kazuto looked slightly annoyed not towards Asuna, but at himself. _‘Right, never question her as to why she goes out of her way to make sure I’m happy after how rough I’ve had it.’_ Kazuto thought, as Asuna giggled a little bit at Kazuto not getting the memo regarding what he asked until it was long after the fact.

With Kazuto’s smiling gaze, he watched as Asuna stopped herself from trying to log into the game as she noticed Kazuto offered his hand for her, with Kazuto showing her two tickets for a movie showing that would happen. “I figured I wouldn’t be able to use these because of Ken, so I guess we can go out together and see this at long last?” Kazuto offered, as Asuna took his hand and moved to stand up and follow him outside of their apartment, giggling every now and then due to the happiness she still felt; Kazuto unable to stop smiling the whole way out to the curb…

As suddenly Stormcloud’s roar interrupted them both and snapped them out of it; several loud explosions could be heard as Kazuto looked around the horizon and noticed the laser that Kazuto unmistakably recognized at Damion’s hand beams being fired across the air; Chronicler appeared to be flying higher in the air, with a significantly larger figure in the air with him as the beams were unable to even remotely dent the massive target that suddenly slammed into him with great force; a sudden, immense impact could be heard from all the way where Kazuto and Asuna lived.

Indeed, even Ryōtarō and Rika could hear it as well despite being significantly further away; both of them looked at each other with concerned, before both of them were quick to rapidly begin dialing Keiko’s number with what they were seeing; taking pics of the alleged fight as they began to try and send it to their friend, the phone popped up with an error message stating there was no signal, and when they tried again, Keiko’s number couldn’t be reached at all before suddenly both of their phones crashed and powered off.

Something was amiss; Ryōtarō could immediately see Kazuto and Asuna riding Stormcloud to investigate exactly what was going on, all the while the two could only dread for what was going to happen. Kazuto and Asuna, landing on the ground as Stormcloud landed not very further away from a cliff side at the base of it, were just in time for Kazuto to grab somebody who was falling down with no energy remaining; Asuna gasped as she was horrified to see how badly Damion was beaten by something in Kazuto’s arms, all the while Kazuto shot a glare over the force moving towards him; walking over as he noticed Suguha standing further ahead, he had Asuna take hold of Damion as he moved to confront the giant, armored behemoth that stomped towards him. As Suguha ran towards Asuna and the unconscious Damion, all the while the armored giant let out a synthesized, partially robotic but distinctly organic chuckle, Kazuto knew this bastard would pay.

Perhaps he already knew, or perhaps I needed to remind him of what happened prior. Either way, though, he was going to see things happen differently from normal for daring to stand before me in such a defiant manner as he did; he clearly knew what he was getting into, but he didn’t care.

If that’s the way the son of a bastard wanted it, then that would then be exactly what he would be in for next.


	17. Chapter 16: Ultimorian Deity! Grandis!

_**Ten minutes earlier** _

"Martin W. Mollohan…"

The name kept ringing through Damion's mind a few seconds after Martin had spoken his full name, yet alone the fact Damion's own name wasn't apparently as what he thought it was. Or, that is, so this man wanted him to believe. Damion's mind was having difficulty processing what he felt; he could feel the same rush of his father's side of his VNA begin to take hold, but Damion placed his palm around his chest to try and stop him from giving into it.

"What's the matter? Can't control your own Ultimorian instinct?" Martin asked, as Suguha was quick to notice the friendly atmosphere that Martin had was quickly beginning to leave the room; the ferrets and polecats all rushing into specialized containers that was marked as safe zones, as Martin began to stand up as Martin, at a visual level, lighting stepped his foot into the ground…

Causing the whole trashed, makeshift house to shake as if an earthquake just occurred; Suguha gasped in the sheer shock of the sudden increase in power from Martin, but she at least expected some of it based off of her previous encounter with Ken, and Damion's words from it.

"Look here now miss, I highly suggest you step out of the house and go begin making your boy a sandwich or something to get more meat on his bones, because honestly at the rate he's going-"

Martin didn't even get a chance to finish, as Damion's eyes went an infernal red with cat-like slits, before his body bulked up just a tad to make him look physically fit, as he suddenly moved to land a punch straight into Martin's jaw. Suguha held her mouth closed in shock, as the impact had Damion's right hand beginning to bleed from the gauntlet, as Martin just chuckled in response to Damion's pathetic display.

"I suggest we take this outside…" Damion ordered his father; as much as he would deny it at this rate based off of his attitude alone, on a biological level Martin is the only one who could actually back the claim up at this rate by having survived that attack. Slowly moving to step away and head out towards the door, he took his eyes off of Martin briefly, "Come on Suguha, let's just-"

"DID I SAY I WAS FINISHED?!" Martin shouted, practically roared in rage before putting strength into his legs to have himself leap at Damion's back with a powerful dropkick; the door smashed open from the impact Damion left from it as he and some debris traveled several dozen yards from the tremendous force. Suguha, not wanting to risk even remotely standing by this powerhouse, decided to move to run away.

"TOO LATE!" Martin yelled as he exhaled a powerful blast of fire-like ice out onto the field in front of Suguha to ignite the grass and corner her before the advancing Ultimorian Deity, as Martin moved forward as his body went from a somewhat chubby form of skinny into a larger, much more robust form while still maintaining a bulky form to him.

"Did you honestly think I was unprepared for a move like that, Damion?!" Martin shouted, his voice getting increasingly hostile as his footsteps shook the ground around him. Damion, moving to rub at his forehead and seeing he was now bleeding from the head injury, moved to float upwards as his body became surrounded by the divine glow; his cloak transforming into wings just like before as Damion's eyes were almost entirely red.

"For one if you're going to claim you're my father, I'd at least like some answers as to why you were never there for me!" Damion shouted towards Martin, as Martin began to chuckle, only or it to turn into laughter.

"Oh boy, you wouldn't have any idea as to the type of responsibility on my shoulders! The weight of the multiverse in the fate of your hands, having to watch as your fellow deities got destroyed and then having to re-establish themselves, and the fact your old man here is cursed in his own special way, and do you wanna know why?!" Martin shouted, as he charged a massive influence of divine energy into his body, but instead of taking the appearance of an angel, he took the appearance of a giant, yeti-like beast.

"I feel everything! I know everything!" Martin roared in the form he was currently in towards Damion, as Damion watched and listened as Martin began laughing like mad; the hint of sorrow was there in Martin's voice, but right now Damion couldn't bring himself to notice before he aimed both of his hands towards Martin and fired off his runic laser towards him at record speed.

Martin simply shrugged off the attack by using his hand to disrupt the projectile and send it hurtling in the other direction in the air above the forest. "Foolish Damion, did you expect me to just sit there and take it so easily? I haven't even revealed my full power to you at all!"

"Martin stop this! This isn't funny!" Suguha attempted to call out Martin from the side, as Martin simply shot her a glare with his fully feral eyes.

"A bitch like you needs to know when to just stay in the kitchen and make her man a-" Martin was cut off by the sudden interruption from Damion's fist colliding with his face, actually managing to faze the Ultimorian Deity as Damion moved to throw rapid punches at his now flat out confirmed father as moved to blast him point blank with his runic laser to get him out of Suguha's way.

Standing with himself between Suguha and Martin, Damion forged with his left hand a runic blade of sorts as Martin didn't even waste time with busting out a strong, reinforced baton-like weapon, which Martin swung around to prepare to beat down Damion with.

"So you think this is funny, you ungrateful bastard?! We'll see how long this stays funny if you decided to keep this up!" Martin roared towards Damion, as Damion's eyes widened as he came to his senses. Powering down and walking away while taking Suguha's hand to prepare to leave with her, Damion knew now that he was simply giving Martin exactly what he wanted to see.

Suguha, seeing Damion trying to escort her away, looked concerned in that from the corner of her eye, she could see Martin suddenly glowing further with energy, as Damion quickly turned around as the entire ground shook with an immense force as cracks formed here and there as Martin suddenly exploded with an immense light.

Emerging from the rays of light, Martin appeared to have materialized saurian armor around himself, complete with a tail and a mane of metallic, purple hair. On his shoulders were two spheres for pauldrons of different shades of blue, and the back of Martin's helmet had three horns with the eyes of the visor being a striking blue.

"In the name of the King of the Ultimorian Deities, I, Grandis, shall knock you down!" Grandis roared towards Damion, as he suddenly rushed forward as Damion managed to quickly, but carefully, push Suguha on to the ground and out of the way of the much more massive Grandis' punch against Damion's chest; blood partially erupting from Damion's mouth upon impact as Grandis moved to slam Damion into the side of a cliff; the impact leaving a sizeable crater.

Suddenly turning around as his tail knocked Damion into the air, Damion was quick to power himself up to his divine form again out of sheer instinct and rage at this point; it was either fight back in self-defense, or possibly die towards his own, now hostile father.

"Come on, Martin! If you're indeed my father, why are you treating me so horribly all of a sudden?!" Damion called down towards Grandis as Grandis simply chuckled, his voice semi-electronic in sound due to the armor's technological reinforcements.

"Because you decided to just punch me first rather than simply accept the fact I'm your dad and settle down for a small conversation! You just had to make the first attack so naturally as the King of the Ultimorian Deities, I simply decided to give you the fight you so desperately wanted to start so soon!" Grandis shouted, as Damion growled.

"Is this some kind of game to you?! You know damn well that a son like me wouldn't simply accept your apologies for not having been there my whole life growing up! For all I knew you simply didn't exist, but here you stand, facing me now as I have undeniable proof that you're indeed my father based off of your strength alone! So why don't you just suck it up and accept responsibility like a normal father?!" Damion chewed out Grandis, all the while Grandis simply chuckled darkly.

"Oh trust me you would only wish that were the case! Now are you done hiding in your little toy box? Because if so, fight me like a man, toymaker!" Grandis shouted, as he suddenly lunged into the air at immense speeds that caused a downburst of air behind him, as Damion moved both of his injured hands to catch Grandis' hands midair to try and get him to stop and slow down.

Suddenly dodging out of the way of an impending tail slam as Grandis suddenly turned, Damion fired his runic laser directly into Grandis' backside as the Ultimorian Deity suddenly roared out in pain; the first audible clue that Damion actually managed to harm Grandis told him that Grandis' backside was his biggest weak spot he had right now.

Suddenly flying at immense speeds out of melee range, Grandis suddenly materialized various weaponry attached to his shoulders and arms, as Grandis fire various missile projectiles from his shoulder weaponry, electric lasers from his arm weapons, and then firing a freeze ray out of his helmet's "mouth", which on the inside appeared a reinforced dome which contained Martin's actual head.

As Damion flew at immense speeds to dodge the incoming projectiles heading his way, he suddenly vanished into thin air, before suddenly moving to impale Grandis through the back with his runic forged sword, as Grandis took Damion by surprise as Grandis suddenly grabbed hold of Damion in a quick turnaround as Grandis flipped both of them in the air for a few times, before suddenly slamming back towards the ground like a meteor with Damion being crushed underneath Grandis' weight.

"Is that all you got, son?!" Grandis roared, as his exposed face from his helmet's mouth was visible as Damion suddenly blasted into it with his hands after managing to get free from his grasp, before Grandis recoiled from the hit before Damion began to immensely spam his runic laser at Grandis' chest, before suddenly flying in and managing to slam his fist into the core of his gut through the armor.

As Damion moved to back away as Grandis could be audibly heard choking and moving to collapse, the Ultimorian Deity appeared to be choking on his own blood as he could clearly be heard vomiting in his own helmet as Damion now could help but feel a tad bit sorry for having tried to start a fight like this; he knew he had made the first move, but now after both his own injuries, and the injuries Grandis now had because of him, that he should just back out now and leave with Suguha while he still had the chance. Turning to prepare to leave, Damion looked back at his father.

"Honestly I hoped you would've been a nicer person than somebody who would flat out try to attack his own son so suddenly; sure, I may have made the first punch, but you had no excuse to escalate things into an actual fight when I've tried twice to leave so far. You should be ashamed of yourself for what trouble you caused yourself, but most importantly your own son for that matter." Damion spoke to the still coughing Grandis as Damion's eyes soon turned to worry as he still kept hacking away as Grandis was on all fours now trying to recuperate from the attack against his torso.

"… Martin are you alright…?" Damion asked, as Grandis struggled to stand, as Damion slowly helped Grandis to his feet with what strength he still had.

"Damion, hold on a sec!" Suguha suddenly shouted, as Damion turned over towards her; too late of a mistake for him, as Grandis suddenly blasted Damion with the contaminated, bloody frost of his breath, as Damion shivered at the impact, only to suddenly let loose a scream of agony and pain as Grandis suddenly slammed him with his tail up into the air.

Seemingly teleporting with his immense speed, as Grandis landed punches, kicks, uppercuts, spinning assaults with his sharp mane and powerful tail, flat out tail attacks and sometimes blasting Damion with either his frost breath of sheer expulsion of energy from his armored form, through Damion around the air with each hit with the force of an explosion. As Damion moved to retaliate with his runic lasers at an immense force and speed, Grandis wasn't even fazed by them this time, as Grandis suddenly held his arms up and spiked Damion into the ground with an impact so strong it caused a shockwave to occur in the air; something much further away would've been easy to see this whole fight now.

Further in the distance back at Kazuto's apartment, Stormcloud looked towards the forested region and could see Damion in the air and Grandis fighting, all the while he suddenly roared out towards the two in confusion, worry, and anger all at once. He didn't like what he was seeing, and when Kazuto and Asuna walked outside of the apartment to check the commotion after originally wanting to head out to enjoy themselves, both of them were quick to mount Stormcloud as Stormcloud flew off towards the scene.

With Damion suddenly crashing into the ground with a loud impact, Grandis held the poor young man up with his large hands and moved to first punch him in the cut to suddenly get a pained, blood vomiting reaction from Damion, before suddenly moving to slam his other fist into Damion's chest with a sickening crunch being heard from the impact.

"I AM THE MIGHTIEST!" Grandis suddenly roared as an immense shockwave from his body caused Damion to suddenly be sent flying towards the ground in absolute pain, his whole body injured and paralyzed because of Grandis' full on assault against him. Before Damion had hit the ground, however, Stormcloud had already landed nearby with Kazuto having picked up Damion mid fall, and now handed the injured friend to him towards Asuna having accompanied him.

Asuna now looked after Damion as Suguha rushed towards her side to check on Damion's injured state as the two now tended to his wounds. As Kazuto now looked over towards Grandis as he landed on the ground in front of him, he could already taste the sheer dislike he had towards Grandis as he approached the Ultimorian Deity as Kazuto fully intended on trying to figure out how exactly to fight Grandis. As he did, he didn't seem to realize his body flickering in and out towards that of his virtual avatar from when he was virtualized into a confrontation with his old man the other day.

"So, if it isn't the quote on quote black swordsman? How nice of you to finally drop by and pay a visit." Grandis boasted towards the approaching Kazuto; Kazuto's seemed to flicker from an ordinary gray to his more reddish eyes his avatar sported, making him partially resemble Damion but with pitch black hair of a shorter length, and red eyes that were far more normal.

"I guess you could say that, you despicable excuse for a father." Kazuto answered, as Grandis simply turned to face Asuna, Suguha, and Damion.

"If only you were here for the full context of this; had Damion simply accepted my peace offering on the spot, this whole fight would've been unnecessary at best." Grandis said to Kazuto, as Kazuto growled.

"A fully grown adult doesn't simply look for an excuse to harm his own children! Even my own bastard of a father knew better than to try and force his children to accept his apologies without first letting his own blood heirs make their move first!" Kazuto spoke up towards the Ultimorian Deity, as Grandis began to move to try and circle around Kazuto with his gaze held on the black covered man. Kazuto did the same, if merely to keep an eye on what exactly Grandis would try and do to him if he tried to pick a fight with him.

"Who are you, anyways? I can tell from your abilities that you're indeed Damion's father right away, but I don't know your name." Kazuto questioned, as he looked over towards him with a glare.

"Don't bother with formalities at a time like this, Kirito; just call me Grandis, for that is what everyone shall call me whenever I am actively the King of the Ultimorian Deities before mere mortals such as you. It only brings me shame that Chronicler proved to be such a fight towards me, only for him to make the mistake of turning his back to leave in the middle of a fight." Grandis spoke up, as he and Kazuto looked over towards Asuna and Suguha, with Damion weakly trying to get up, only to immediately fall back down trying.

"Honestly, Grandis, I don't see anything grand about you aside from that nicely designed armor, so unless you've got the bite to back up your bark, I suggest crawling back over towards your little shack of a home over there and leaving he four of us alone, you absolute disgrace to us all." Kazuto spoke, as he moved to stop as Grandis looked like he was beginning to leave.

"We'll see who can speak in absolutes should you remotely make it out alive, Kirito!" Grandis spoke up, before turning around to suddenly throw a punch towards Kazuto…

… Only for Kazuto to chuckle very darkly as he smirked; his hand having blocked Grandis' armored hand and stopped it dead cold in place; underneath his helmet, Martin's eyes widened a little with worry.

"Honestly, you're going to regret having ever started a fight with the black swordsman himself!"


	18. Chapter 17: Reflections

"Kazuto, hold up!"

Too late; Asuna and Suguha weren't able to stop Kazuto from moving to punch Grandis square in the jaw not that he had a chance to do so. Oddly managing to cause Grandis to fly backwards a bit, the wounded Ultimorian Deity still clearly had enough strength to continue to fight as the back of his shoulders activated into turbines that propelled him forward to move strike Kazuto with his reinforced head.

Kazuto, materializing a one-handed weapon and shield, used the rather large shield in his left hand to bash Grandis aside; the Ultimorian's senses and ability to continue to fight were hindered by Damion's previous attempts to have a go at him, or perhaps Grandis was bluffing like before. As Grandis got back up and moved to charge at Kazuto on all fours, Kazuto, with both hands, moved to suddenly grab hold of Grandis' helmet and actually manage to push him to stop, pushed back quite a bit from the sheer force of the collision.

As Grandis was struggling in Kazuto's grasp, Kazuto tossed the armored deity onto his side as Kazuto moved to bash Grandis' side with what initially appeared to be a sword, but instead was a one-handed mace. With Grandis roaring out in the sheer pain, Kazuto switched out the mace for the runic sword buried in Grandis' spine and forcefully pulled it out and began to hack and slash at Grandis' exposed backside until the Ultimorian Deity managed to regain his bearings and moved to charge off elsewhere in the field around them.

As Grandis jumped and moved to pounce at Kazuto with his infected frost breath firing towards him, Kazuto jumped up and rammed the runic sword and shield into the armoring on Grandis' left side of his back, before suddenly his eyes seemed to spark in an unnatural glow; in his vision, Grandis appeared to have slowed down, as the now apparent rain was merely visible droplets of water, with Kazuto moving to hack and slash against Grandis' weaponry on his shoulder and arm, before suddenly jamming the runic sword into Grandis' now exposed left shoulder.

Grandis roared as his now destroying left weaponry exploded against him, but only ended up roaring even louder when Kazuto moved to pierce the blue generator on his shoulder and causing the fluid and gases contained within to leak. Upon Kazuto pulling out the sword, the shoulder pad suddenly exploded against Grandis as he moved to collapse from the sheer force of it pushing him onto his right side.

"Is that all you got Big G?! Did I wear you out after all of that so you can learn to pick on someone your own size?!" Kazuto spoke with a hint of hostility towards Grandis. Grandis, however, could be heard beginning to weep.

"They took her from me…" Grandis spoke, his voice quiet as he was still coughing from earlier, "They took him from me…" Grandis said, as he was slowly beginning to stand back up on his feet, as Grandis's left exterior of his helmet shattered open to reveal his human face underneath of the saurian exterior, as well as the cracked dome around his head filled with a strange liquid, which was partially contaminated by the blood Grandis kept coughing up.

Kazuto had let his guard down as Grandis' expression didn't match up with what he saw earlier; Grandis was limp as he stood there, his expression seeming pathetic and miserable for a deity. That was, until Grandis' expression turned into a sorrowed hostility as Grandis was having difficulty seeing once his eyes turned a blank white.

"Your father took him from me, YOU took him from me!" Grandis roared as he slowly moved to run towards Kazuto as the baton materialized on his right arm as a giant hammer as he moved to swing it at Kazuto, with Kazuto quickly phasing through it without effort; Grandis sounded exhausted, his spirit and ego next to nowhere to be found.

"2014 I had seen her last; 19 years have passed since she was stolen from me!" Grandis shouted in his anguished tone, as he moved to suddenly smash the blunt mallet of his hammer into the ground, unable to properly detect Kazuto as Asuna and Suguha's eyes widened. Suguha seemed to understand some of where Grandis was going with this, so she decided to speak up.

"But that doesn't excuse you for beating up your own son, Grandis!" Suguha spoke up, hoping that Grandis would hear her. Grandis' head turned to face her all the while his furious gaze returned to him.

"HE took her from me, just like everyone else had stolen her from me! Do you not comprehend the sins of your bastard of a father?! But he wasn't alone… 2012 is when I met her; she was taken from me against my choice two years later, and do you honestly expect me to feel sorry towards my son so soon after what had led up to this?!" Grandis shouted, as he exhaled a powerful, but faltering stream of ice from his helmet's broken mouth. As Kazuto moved to attack, he was suddenly grabbed as his shields and weapons were dropped to the ground upon Grandis grabbing him.

"You remind me too much of HIM! The one who had prevented me from saving her! The one who allowed her to die against my intentions! What do you have to gain by making my life increasingly miserable at this rate?!" Grandis said as he tossed Kazuto into the ground and smashed his hammer into the ground, but his fatigue made him miss, but it appeared he did so on purpose.

"I didn't want to harm my son! Do you think I honestly wanted to truly harm him?! Do you not know the misery of my own instincts compared to his?! Born into a life of fighting and conflict because of our inherent abilities, whether our minds are truly conscious about it or not?! Chronicler knows half of that feeling; that's me 100%!" Grandis said as he was beginning to calm again, as his weeping was more audible as it was clear he was crying at this rate now. "What have I done to him…? Why did he make me hurt him…? I know why…" Grandis began to say, as the last three words had his aggression build up again, before he gazed towards the sky as he raised his hammer up.

"They're making me do this! They've ALWAYS made me do this! Every time I get banished because of their lack of acceptance of my uncontrollable violence, they always make the mistake that I'm completely in control, and they fully expect me to interfere with whichever mortal verse I am sentenced to for punishment!" Grandis began to shout, all the while Kazuto slowly moved to stand once Grandis was regaining his senses and swung his hammer his way; Kazuto jumped up and began hacking and slashing at the remainder of Grandis' reinforced artillery on his right side, before impaling the shoulder pad on Grandis' right side and having it explode into the deity's face; the sudden force of the explosion caused Grandis' exterior helmet to fully shatter apart as Grandis collapsed onto his front as his crying, pained expression was kept contained under the dome that was built underneath his now gone exterior helmet.

"G-Grandis…" Damion choked up as he slowly began to speak up. Grandis' eyes widened a bit as he looked towards Damion's weak form; his eyes more clearly able to see the damages he had done to his son. Grandis, as he tried to move his way closer in the giant armor he still had equipped, didn't seem to realize Kazuto was sneaking up behind to try and get him from his back.

"I'm sorry… I do not want sympathy I haven't earned from you… I never wanted to harm you… All I ever wanted ages ago was to die like the rest of our kind back when we were sought to be exterminated…" Grandis said, as he had carefully moved his right hand to place onto Damion's chest, as it glowed with an immense force as the wounds on Damion could be quickly felt healing as Damion's gasped for breath as he coughed, no longer bleeding across his form or from within as he looked up towards Grandis with shock, before his eye's widened further.

"Kazuto, STOP!" Damion shouted towards Kazuto approaching from behind, as Kazuto didn't appear to budge as his form kept flickering between his normal self and his avatar form. Grandis, gaining enough strength to recoil around slap Kazuto aside with his strong arm, moved to roar at him as he stomped forward to try and get in the way between Kazuto and the others. Asuna watched with horror as Kazuto still tried to attack Grandis, because at this point it was no longer about self defense.

He seemed legitimately out to kill Grandis.

"You think some sob story from a monster is enough to convince me to stop?! You're just nothing but free experience at this rate, Grandis!" Kirito shouted towards Grandis to taunt him, as Grandis' eyes widened, before he moved to lunge at Kirito with his massive arms moving to try and pin the bastard down as his icy breath was still contaminated by his own injuries as he moved to blast it towards Kirito, but it was far less potent.

"Asuna! Suguha! Get back home, prepare to boot up the MaterialEye! You need to hurry if you want Kazuto to snap out of it!" Grandis ordered towards the two, as Damion slowly moved to stand as he tried to get into the fight to see what exactly was wrong. As Kirito writhed about as he was pinned and paralyzed by the frigid breath Grandis had exhaled towards him, Kirito suddenly disappeared, as the deity's eyes widened as he looked towards wherever he could've been.

"Kirito where the hell did you go don't toy around with us like this!" Grandis spoke as Damion looked at Grandis in confusion.

"His name is Kazuto!"

"No it's Kirito! At least, in this current state of his…" Grandis spoke, before suddenly he felt the immense pain of Kirito stabbing into his backside with the runic sword again; roaring in an agonizing pain before Damion moved to tackle Kirito off of his back and move to translate the two of them into virtual space; Damion's grasp on him was far stronger thanks to Grandis having healed him now, as Grandis looked on in horror as to what he was seeing.

"Chronicler, DON'T! He'll kill you once you get in there!"

"I don't care! I'm saving his life if this is the only way!" Damion spoke, as Damion and Kirito's molecules suddenly dispersed all at once as they vanished into virtual reality. Grandis heaving with exhaustion and now frustration, looked over towards Asuna and Suguha as they both gave a nod towards the armored deity, as they were quick to get picked up by Stormcloud and flown back to the apartment. Grandis, picking his hammer back up as he looked towards the sky as his fury grew to its maximum.

"YOU BASTARDS ALL MADE ME DO THIS! YOU'RE JUST LOVING WHAT YOU'RE SEEING RIGHT NOW, AREN'T YOU?!" Grandis shouted to the heavens, "You're all a bunch of sick bastards; forcing me into a seat of power as a deity would've been one thing, but then forcing me into the role of your so called king is another. Then having toyed with my mind with those around me is what I will not tolerate, but the fact you REFUSED to intervene from trying to harm my son when you easily could have?! Gutless… pure, unadulterated gutless behavior from my 'fellow' deities..." Grandis shouted up towards the heavens, as if expecting some kind of answer.

"I expected a hell of a lot better from all of you freaks up there, watching and laughing at my misery and agony for your own benefit! What are you wanting me to do here if you want me to go through nothing but constant suffering?!" Grandis roared towards the heaven after this with a loud, ear piercing shriek as the roar of the enraged king of deities did not go entirely unanswered.

"You ask many questions, Grandis… But are you truthful about them…?"

Grandis looked around as to who could've been asking that, as he looked around; his helmet and shoulders damaged and more vulnerable to attack, before slowly coming across a humanoid figure with a white appearance and tail and blond locks, with the hair having grown out to cover a heavily scarred, seemingly missing left eye.

"Who are you to question how much I long to be freed of my primal instincts to demand for such violence…? Can't any of those freaks up in the heavens understand…? All I want is to be with my son again after so long… They can just fuck off if they manipulated him or I into behaving so violently towards one another… I know full well that one of them easily can…" Grandis spoke up, as the humanoid figure simply chuckled a little bit, as he slowly approached the deity as his smaller size was more obvious with each step closer towards Grandis.

"That, my friend, is what I call insanity and the inability to control yourself at all; all I see is a pitiful deity who can't fully accept responsibility just yet and desires to rebel against the system, with only small degrees of success judging by the fact you now finally have some form of house." The being spoke as he gestured towards the small shack, as it was surprisingly undamaged all the while the ferrets and polecats had moved out from within as they were now sniffing about in search of fresh game.

"You may be violent by nature, but you need to understand that unlike me, you can actively control this tendency and refuse to give into it. I fail to understand why your conversation with Chronicler didn't end on a positive note with no fight at all, but honestly I'm not surprised; you're so driven by grief and despair over what happened to your wife ever since Tyrion interfered that you've been blinded by anger and frustration over the fact you failed to keep her alive while also failing to keep yourself from protecting Chronicler." The being spoke up as to what he was seeing, as rain was beginning to pour more heavily.

"What else do you know about me in this case…? Are you some kind of seer with that eye of yours…?" Grandis asked, as the being chuckled for a few small seconds for that, before immediately going quiet.

"You're driven by angst, depression, and general frustration, but nobody will excuse you for that little fact so soon; regardless of how Chronicler tries to convince those other three that you're an innocent man who honestly meant no harm deep down, to them you're nothing short of a monster with no humanity to himself at all. Do you have anything to say against that?" The being spoke, all the while Grandis moved to slouch his arms as he moved to face the ground, before giving the being some eye contact.

"I refuse to deny what I did was wrong… you speak the truth, mysterious one… They will only see me as a horrible being until I can show them how I'm a nicer person underneath all of this misery… I just need more time than what I had been given… everything is happening so fast…" Grandis spoke in his exhausted tone, all the while the being handed Grandis a small package.

"Give this to one of the humans who know Chronicler without letting them know it's you who sent it; the package is specifically for their eyes only and they MUST open it with the girl of Chronicler's having it in her position on the date marked on the card. Heed my warning, Grandis, if things do not go according to plan, than you may end up losing Chronicler to someone even worse than you…" The being spoke, as he moved to begin to leave.

As Grandis looked down on the box, it read "Open on November 18th, 2033.", before Grandis moved to turn to face the mysterious entity. "Your name… what is your name, wise one…?" Grandis asked, as the being stopped and turned to face him with his good eye looking him dead in his own.

"Mirror M… keep it simple that way, and do your responsibilities… No matter how much you truly want to make up to your son, you must allow for time to heal all wounds first and then let your son approach you first now that he knows you're here… that's all that matters now…" Mirror M spoke up, as he moved to leave the area entirely as he began to prowl off.

As the rain intensified, Grandis looked over towards the ferrets and polecats moving back into the house, all the while his hearing perked up when he heard something in the forest further out; some kind of animal could be heard, as Grandis stayed within his armored form to allow for him to approach it, moving the trees as he walked on through.

Eventually he found the animal in the form of a small, helpless beagle, which was whining and weeping in the rain all alone as Grandis looked around all of a sudden; the sight of bodies in view of his head at his increased height in this form suddenly disturbed him, before he refocused his attention on the dog; he could see the injuries the pup had around its back leg and front paws, as Grandis, very carefully, scooped the dog up into his hand and moved to hold the dog to his armored self, as he began to walk back to his recluse of a hut with the dog in hand now.

Kirito was out cold in the fields, as Chronicler tended to his wounds via bandaging him up; they were now back in the cold, icy forests of where he had last been seen, as Chronicler helped patch him up as Kirito looked towards Chronicler with a confused gaze.

"W-What happened while I was zoned out of it, Chronicler…?" Kirito asked, as Chronicler looked at him with concern.

"You are safe now, but you almost killed my dad because you thought this was back in the game…" Chronicler began, before he trailed off and looked at Kirito sternly in the eyes. "I have a question before we begin to try and find the nearest dead zone to get you back home… who am I talking to here?" Chronicler asked, as Kirito moved to look around; he seemed freaked with what he was seeing; ice worms laying idly waiting for some hapless player to walk near, dire wolves lurking in the snowy forests, and occasionally a large polar bear prowling about.

"K-Kazuto… W-Where did we end up, Damion…?!" Kazuto asked; he sounded scared and confused for all he knew as to what was going on; it reminded Chronicler of when he first did this with Suguha.

"Well then, since I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring trend… Kazuto, Kirito, whoever you like to be known as…" Chronicler said as he summoned forth Kazuto's griffin mount before them, as the majestic beast suddenly reared up and let out a sharp call.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online."


	19. Chapter 18: Project G

_I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive._

_-Joseph Campbell_

* * *

Chronicler did not know of where he was taking Kazuto aside from flying his griffin to take him someplace safer from here; the dead zone just outside of this forest was near, but Chronicler knew very little as to the nature of it aside from it being "very old" according to what he had seen of it beforehand for himself. Kazuto was oddly quiet and near catatonic for how much fear he now felt for his life; how he recklessly endangered himself against Grandis despite clearly having the upper hand.

The power of Grandis was not to be ignored so ominously in such a way; even his avatar's very embodiment that had taken over had acknowledged Grandis as being very powerful. For much of the trip into the dead zone of this location, Kazuto was quiet as the griffin landed in what would've otherwise been a bottomless bit, but at the very bottom materialized a giant, hidden laboratory of sorts.

The change in setting alarmed Chronicler as he had never seen a dead zone like this one before; he shuddered as he noticed the broken chains of something massive having had once been contained here, and the footprints of whatever massive life-form once was contained here didn't match with Mirror M's; he knew Mirror M's feet in his larger form were more hoof-like in shape, but the prints left in the lab, of which many in all directions existed as did many scraping marks along the walls, existed as Chronicler descended and landed into the lab, all the while carefully leading Kazuto out to check on something.

"Where is this place?" Kazuto asked, as his eyes were wide in paranoia as to the vast, emptiness of the room, and yet how self-contained it appeared to be. With the exception of a small room right next door, Chronicler broke into the room with his runic laser from his hands and hovered into it, gesturing Kazuto to come into the room.

"What are these supposed to be?" Chronicler asked, referring to some, very dusty and snow covered, cassette tapes that were littered across the room; all of them labeled with the same thing in differing parts from each other.

Project G.

Opening a nearby cassette player, Kazuto moved to pop the first of them into it and hoped the machine would still work. At first, silence filled the room, as before a moment's notice, the faint, scratching noise of the age of the tapes first kicked in, before somebody finally began to speak.

"Arthur Lee Samuel. December 24th, 1954. It was an unusual first day on the job to program here at a French Institution; I would say the name of this… terrible, terrible, unethical place; I was told I would be programming an AI for these people and they required my assistance; I was never told the sheer scope of this artificial intelligence, or what it was capable of doing during its brief time conscious."

_A human body was found, but it appeared to be in a dormant state; all of the vital organs were in check, as it appeared to lack any sort of mind to properly register itself; the brain was functional, but it appeared to cease in stirring itself up. One of the machines in the room, carrying a syringe into the heavily reinforced, isolated room, moved with a delicate crane arm down towards the being's body, as it injected a microchip into the body; what would happen next would only have to be witnessed only by those who would know they would die with some hidden sins._

_The injection occurred according to plan, as the slowly the humanoid being began to show a pulse on the charts in the room; as its breath slowly woke up the exposed form of the life-form. Suddenly moving to sit awake as its eyes, and even its skin tone and hair color, began to alter itself in a slow, gradual succession as the being was exhaling an audible, vapor of smoke in the air, as it slowly moved to stand._

_The life-form moved up onto its feet as it slowly moving to stand; its skinny structure remained weak and nimble, but the creature suddenly lunged itself towards the wall and caused the whole room to shake with the tremendous force. The humanoid's body began to finally settle on a coloration; brown hair with pale skin of a dubious ethnicity, before the being's eyes contained to glow a fierce, striking reddish brown, as it looked through the one way mirror of the room it was contained in; it could clearly see everyone in the small bunker next to the room, as the scientists were rapidly analyzing the data on the microchip's effects._

" _Sir, its pulse is accelerating." One of the workers spoke, as the lead scientist remained quiet as his skinny frame and witch-like nose seemed to draw the aggression from the awoken being towards him. Now scraping at the walls of the chamber, its increasing growls suddenly intensified as the being backed away as its body shook and convulsed violently._

_Its muscular mass grew, as the scientists looked worried; the leader looked amazed by the results thus far._

" _Adrenaline signs increasing, pulse rising even further. Sir, are you sure we should-"_

" _I am sure." The leader spoke, as the being in the chamber suddenly stirred even further as a field of energy surrounded itself; upon letting out a loud roar, the humanoid fired a shockwave from itself as the shockwave shook the room even further than when it had collided with the wall._

_Growling, and beginning to punch the walls with futility, its eyes were glazed over as what appeared to be swelling occurred around its eyes. Suddenly increasing in muscular mass, the life-form exploded with an intense bolt of energy as it grew even larger than it was already, before its repeated punches towards the wall had the scientists concerned._

" _Fire the restraints." The leader ordered, as suddenly from the opposite side of the room from each individual wall, massive, metallic bolas were launched and then anchored to the wall as the specimen was pulled into the center of the room. Just as it was, however, one of the workers was beginning to attempt to speak up about how the life-form's pulse increased to levels that were completely inhuman._

" _Sir, you might want to take a look at these readings!"_

" _Are they substantial…?"_

" _They're extraordinary… especially with what we have so far and-"_

_The sudden, fierce roar of the specimen in the center of the room wasn't going to be ignored to soon, as the creature was panting heavily in an exhausted state as it was actively fighting against the bolas keeping it in placed; moving to generate what appeared to be another shockwave, the entire room exploded with a fierce energy to where now in the middle of the room was the saurian, metallic form of an entity unknown to mankind or anything else on this planet._

" _Yes… this is what I have been waiting for… Grandis, arise and ascend, for awaken thy king…" The leader spoke, as one of the workers gave him a strange look._

" _Sir, what are you talking about? Who or what is Grandis?" The worker began to ask as the metallic life-form in the center of the room let out a loud, booming roar as at the center of its maw, began to charge an immense sphere of pure energy._

" _Sir, the walls won't be able to contain a blast that strong! We have to do something or it'll-"_

" _Or it'll what? Go on, finish that sentence; because I assure you I will wager every coin you have that this specimen will never break free." The man spoke violently towards the other worker, as one of the workers looked ready to leave from the sheer horror of this, just as the leader pulled out a revolver and grinned, "Get back in your seat; be a good member of society, and just do as you're told." The leader spoke._

_As the entity roared in the room it was contained it as its massive, lumbering form began to violently thrash against the walls of the room it was contained it, it desperately looked for some kind of way to escape. As more and more restraints were fired at it until the whole room were cover in some kind of metallic chain to restrain the being, the creature's mouth now faced the ceiling as the immense sphere of energy building up now discharged suddenly out into the floors above and caused for the entire ceiling to cave in on itself._

_As the power went out in the room next door, a dim, red light was turned on as the power was returning just enough for the workers to get a reading on the microchip still inside the creature's body._

" _S-Sir, its pulse is dropping; adrenaline levels are at a low with this one, why is becoming docile so quickly?" The worker asked, as the leader simply gazed at the creature through the window._

_The creature didn't know what to truly think about its current condition; it had every intent of trying to break out after what it had just experienced, but it now looked up into the serene, aurora draped sky of the winter night, as the entity's eyes were beginning to dim and weaken in aggression, and instead turning into a solemn sorrow as to what it was seeing._

_The sky above it was beautiful, as it gave the entity a reminder of where it once came from; shattered dreams, shattered lives, shattered memories, and for what? To be the only one ever allowed to live for as long as it has with the only mind strong enough to force it to remember every single event it had a hand in; every sin, every failure, no matter the incarnation past, present, or future. All of their burden, all of their pain, all of their dying gazes united with the specimen idling in the room, as it could only think to itself._

" _I know… everything… I feel… everything…" The entity, in a machine-like voice, spoke out towards the night sky in a quiet, subdued voice, as the restrains were beginning to fall brittle at the increased stress against such a massive life-form of such strength. It wanted freedom from this nightmare, this everlasting dream it now lived in. It would all come to an end sooner or later, but the life-form didn't know when._

_It only knew how._

_Breaking free of the restraints and, increasingly clumsily as it was unable to listen to what had happened to the room around it; the sudden pull of gravity forced the creature down to the floor at several instances, forcing the creature to pressure itself to lift back up and crawl towards the wall it was originally trying to break out of._

_The quick gaze of the leader suddenly had its attention at full force, as the entity began to charge an immense sphere of energy in its mouth. At the flick of a switch, more restraints emerged from the ground and any of the walls that had any functioning restraining methods remaining. Slowly, the creature's mouth was sealed shut as it was forcefully dragged back into the center of the room._

_Vents opened up in the entire room with a form of toxic gas, as the creature's senses were quickly becoming drugged by them; the right side of its face allowed it to view up into the night sky again, as its eye was slowly beginning to close quickly as what seemed to be tears turned streams of fluid from its pained eyes suddenly begin to leak; the limp body, convulsing every now as it tried to gain the energy to force itself awake by continuously trying to sob as it lay helplessly on the floor at the mercy of beings who had now shamed it._

_The poison gas quickly began to work its way further into the life-form's systems, as the creature slowly could be feeling itself fall limp even further, as it slowly began to become unconscious at the effects of the poison gas._

" _I remember… A time when I was young… A time which I feel like sharing if I ever felt I was ever on death's door… the joy of a man, but not any ordinary man… a man made of snow…" The being began to whisper to itself, as it did whatever it could possibly do to prevent itself from falling asleep to this drug. The leader pointed his two worker's attention into the room, as he turned up the speakers from their end to let them listen in._

" _F-Frosty the Snowman… What a jolly… happy… soul…" The being tried to force itself to only vaguely sing as its voice sounded in pain as its crying was more prominent now to the men in the room beside it._

" _B-But he waved g-g-goodbye, sayin' 'don't cry, I-I'll… I-I'll b-be b-back… a-again… s-s-some… d-d-day…"_

_After having attempted to sooth itself, the creature gave into its constant crying and the drug as it now fell completely dormant in the room yet again. The scientists were speaking to themselves as they had begun arguing; what felt like just a few soon turned into many, many other voices. The creature was dead silent and still during all of what it was able to hear in the back of its mind._

_As for what seemed like only a few minutes of its time had passed, the creature could slowly feel its energy begin to return towards it. As the creature suddenly moved to stand, still in its current, mechanical form, it looked around at the room and noticed various scrapings it could not clearly tell if it was awake or not to make._

_The life-form, looking back up towards the summer sky, looked up with a confused, drowsy gaze as it looked up at the serene sky with interest; it was awake again, but how long was it asleep? It would soon find out, but first, it had to get out._

" _Arise and ascend… for awaken thy king…" The being spoke, as it moved as turbines on the back of its shoulder armor began to activate and lift the creature up into the air at a slow pace, before it was moving at an even, albeit sluggish pace out of the room and into the above freedom above. Looking below, the room was now nothing more than an empty void; a black nothingness as the life-form materialized into the mysterious world above itself._

" _Welcome to Sword Art Online, Grandis. It is good to see you again."_

"The tapes had ended there after the laboratory had fallen… I had come back to try and collect them, but I only instead ended up leaving on behind; the life-forms made it clear I was no longer welcome here, so I only left a small parting gift with a key code in it should any of my former employees find it during the breakout's aftermath. I had last seen the original specimen, AI-000 GRANDIS, as it was still contained in dormancy. I only hope that is for the better and how it shall remain.

Dr. Devoniak, August 26th, 2033. Dismissed."

"… Jesus…" Chronicler spoke up as he tried to collect every bit of visual information that had rolled through his mind after all of the recorded cassette tapes were looked at.

"It seemed to be quite a bit of a bombshell after all, for you at least… He did mention a key code though… So I'm curious… Is that what you came here to find?" Kazuto asked, as Chronicler looked at the last cassette tape and found a microchip contained within it, as it was too sudden to keep his body from absorbing it into himself as he suddenly clutched at his chest in the intense pain he now felt.

"Grab on to me Kazuto because I have a feeling you're not going to get another chance at this so soon!" Chronicler urged, as Kazuto moved to grab hold of Chronicler, as both of their molecules dissipated and vanished into thin air, as both of them could feel themselves return to reality as normal…

… But as they left, somebody began to walk into the room, by hovering down from above. Lowering himself down into the room, Grandis appeared in his armor, mostly unchanged except for his missing head and shoulder armor, as Grandis moved into a nearby part of the laboratory and busted down the aged wall of the facility and opened it up. With a spare set of parts here and there, Grandis worked on reequipping himself with newly restored, albeit aged, replacement parts for his arms and head. After allowing his head to adjust to the feeling it now had with his eyes seeing from the once more saurian head, Grandis looked into the sky again after so long.

"Why am I still alive after all of this time… what atrocity did I commit in the past that keeps my soul bound to this area, unable to truly rest…" Grandis wondered, as he began to hover back into the air and lift himself back out of the pit, before increasing in altitude suddenly as he moved to fly high into the air, the newly repaired engines on his shoulders causing him to skyrocket into the artificial sun of the virtual world, and seemingly vanish into it as the sky rippled with the impact he had against it.

"I will find you, I will find all of you who had been there manipulating all of me to who knows what else degrees you had me there for… I will bring you to justice; I shall have my revenge…"


	20. Chapter 19: Chronicler Prime

"I'm afraid we don't have much time!"

Nobuyuki's whining could normally only get him so far each time he had to have a private meeting with Ken; this time, however, as Ken gazes over the shaking, brunet nearing blond man before him, he simply raises an eye as he listens.

"Go on…" Ken says to Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki is quick to bring forward a package at his side, opening it up to reveal a MaterialEye unit within it. However, a part located on the top had a "-|-" shaped insignia on it.

"Normally, the MaterialEye you had given to your son and what the general populace has in their possession is but a harmless, virtual reality gaming hardware that had many of its pre-alpha features gutted out and replaced with a more mundane processor. However, this unit you see before you, as you can tell but the cross-like symbol on it, is very much different in that much of its pre-alpha features are fully maintained." Nobuyuki explains to Ken, as Ken keeps an observant eye on the fool; what exactly did he mean by "pre-alpha" features? Of course, Ken already knew loud and clear what he was referring to; the question is, though, why would Nobuyuki stress the idea of using these forbidden features?

"Nobuyuki, hear me out. I understand you'll be able to hack into Chronicler's mind during a small window of opportunity at hand, provided if what your cameras had reported over in Aokigahara is indeed true about the fight between him and Martin, however." Ken says, as he pauses for a moment as he looks towards a bird; a curious, small little bird perched outside of the window.

"Nobuyuki… riddle me this, since right now this is going to be a life or death question. Have you managed to figure out the process in which Chronicler so far has managed to effectively convert energy into matter and back again?" Ken says, his tone sounding oddly more exhausted as he keeps an eye on the bird.

"To some degree, I do believe the device implemented into this version of the MaterialEye is the long thought missing prototype dating back to the 40s." Nobuyuki tells Ken, as Ken looks over towards the device again; true, a lot of rust present, a lot of metal chipped off, but the overall interior remains intact, and according to Nobuyuki, it still can manage to function. "Should we find ourselves a suitable test subject?" Nobuyuki asks, interrupting Ken's thoughts, as Ken's brows lower a bit.

"No; I don't believe that'll be necessary."

"Why not?" Nobuyuki asks, before his eyes widen as he tries to analyze Ken's words. "You're using me, aren't you?"

"No; we're using  _me_."

Ken's words pierce Nobuyuki's mind like a constant echo travels across an endless void within his whole being; is Ken truly serious about going to test this device himself? Is Nobuyuki escaping from this too easily? It's too good to be true, Nobuyuki thinks.

"Ken, are you certain about this? We have no idea if this will actually work, especially with someone in your physical condition."

"Damn the consequences!" Ken says as he slams his fists into the table in between himself and Nobuyuki, the latter shaking as Ken moves to stand and walk over towards what appears to be an ordinary window where the bird is perched still.

"You're right; we need to act fast; an opportunity like this is fading with every minute we spend talking, and I cannot trust someone with your degree of incompetency on a mission as vital as this." Ken says, as he presses his hand on the glass as a holographic terminal shows up, before the entire floor suddenly begins to move downwards; the entire room sinking into the ground into some unknown location as if it were a giant elevator.

At the bottom floor is the remnant of a laboratory; once filled with former glory, it exists only in an abandoned, dusty state, with only a single device in the center of the room, hooked up to large amounts of power supplies, still functional. Ken moves to approach the chamber-like device as he moves to place the MaterialEye onto his head and prepare himself for what is to follow.

Nobuyuki, however, takes the helmet from Ken before he could properly secure it onto his head, as Nobuyuki places the device on his head and straps it into place. Ken looks incredibly bemused; he had no intention of sending Nobuyuki on this mission, knowing what was at risk, but let alone Nobuyuki  _willingly_  wanting to give this a shot himself.

"… Go ahead, be my guest; you're paying for it if it breaks on the first shot." Ken tells Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki looks upon Ken for a few seconds, before closing his eyes and sighing as he takes in a deep breath to relax his nerves; he knew everything he has is at stake, and now it's all about to be thrown into a big gamble.

"Very well." Nobuyuki says, as he opens his eyes as he holds his left arm outward, his hand spread open. "Realize, MaterialEye; open up all possible ports and analyze." Nobuyuki says in a calm, dismissive tone; Ken sees into his eyes that he looks rather solemn at a time like this. Not that Ken didn't expect this, however; he knew Nobuyuki as a weakling over the past few days, but at the same time, what exactly did Nobuyuki intend to gain if this succeeds?

"… Nothing, not even a malfunction." Nobuyuki says, as Ken investigates the MaterialEye and notices everything is properly attached to it, and the battery is on full charge, but for some reason won't activate to Nobuyuki's voice command.

"Are you feeling alright, Nobuyuki?" Ken asks; raising an eye as he gazes over Nobuyuki's immensely stoic expression; dull and joyless as Nobuyuki tries again with his hand raised out.

"Realize, MaterialEye; open up all possible ports and analyze." Nobuyuki commands; Ken's eyes widen as he notices not even a minor change in tone is heard from Nobuyuki's voice from the last time he tried the command.

"… Nobuyuki?" Ken asks, his eyes wide as his irises briefly shrink a little as he blinks. Normally Ken has no fear from Nobuyuki, but due to the strange circumstances, Ken now has a reason to be somewhat on edge with Nobuyuki's sudden ability to remain so stoic; this isn't normal, it never was normal, as he had heard everything regarding his encounter with Martin. Nobuyuki was cowardly that whole time, too afraid to face death at the hands of an Ultimorian Deity; now, however, it seems Nobuyuki is dissonantly calm and serene in the face of the greater plan at hand.

"Realize, MaterialEye; open up-"

"Nobuyuki, I think you're done for today; you're not feeling well, I can tell that for certain. Do you want me to drive you home?" Ken tells Nobuyuki, as Nobuyuki sets his arm down by his side again, only to then use both arms to remove the MaterialEye from his head, as Nobuyuki powers down the device as he takes in a deep breath, letting out a solemn sigh.

"No need; I'll walk. There is something I need to check." Nobuyuki says, as Ken looks upon Nobuyuki as he turns around and walks out of the door of the hidden basement floor they're in. Ken scratches the back of his head in confusion; something is up, Nobuyuki was normal not too long ago, only for his entire mentality to change completely for an inexplicable reason. Ken looks upon the MaterialEye in a stray, aside glance; he wonders if perhaps the device actually did something and they didn't know of it.

* * *

Nobuyuki steps outside of the office building once back on the first floor, as a few birds are scattered across the pavement of the lot in which the tall building rests; Nobuyuki glances down at the birds, identifying their brown appearance with white masked faces, although Nobuyuki spots in one in particular that causes him to let out a soft, very brief chuckle.

"You know, you all could be fooling me at a time like this; is that what you take me for after all of these years?" Nobuyuki talks to them, as if expecting an answer; an answer in the form of all but one bird fleeing the area, as Nobuyuki doesn't budge all the while the sole bird remaining, completely pitch black with apparently no visible eyes, looks away from Nobuyuki's direction, as Nobuyuki slowly lightens up his expression with a sly smile.

"Interesting; the others seem scared of you, perhaps because you're not exactly from around here. Isn't that right, Ultima?" Nobuyuki asks of the bird before him; everything goes quiet; whatever noise was in the background completely fades into nothing; Nobuyuki's hearing only notices his own heartbeat at this moment, as well as the bird's faint movements.

_**"…"** _

"Ultima, so it is you, isn't it? I'm honestly kind of surprised you humble yourself with the form of such a small species of bird, especially considering who you truly are." Nobuyuki says as he moves to lean down too gaze upon the "bird", to which it still doesn't give a glance towards Nobuyuki in return.

_**"You seem oddly serene in such an egotistical form, Oberon."**_  The bird speaks in a voice that cannot be identified as either a man or woman's voice; it sounds like a mixture of both, with a third, middle ground sounding voice speaking alongside the other two in perfect synchronization.

"And here I was led to believe you were the sole one with the egomaniac lifestyle among those upstairs." Nobuyuki says, as Ken's presence can be felt walking out of the office complex; Ken can see Nobuyuki talking to the bird, but as far as Ken can see, the bird appears to be of the same ordinary brown with white masks covering its face like the other birds who had long since fled. Ken can tell Nobuyuki is oddly intrigued by it, but he can't understand why he'd take interest in something he would outright consider so lowly.

_**"No need to be so praiseful right now, Oberon; you still know I have not forgotten about what you tried doing with my daughter oh so long ago."**_ The bird again speaks, but as Ken observes the scene unfolding between the bird and Nobuyuki, he can't hear a word the bird is saying other than ordinary chirping.

"Still rather sour about that, I see. At least you can do is give me the sign I need to finally end this." Nobuyuki tells the bird, as Nobuyuki and Ken both hear a faint clapping; the sound of hardened leather coated in metal could be heard with each clap of someone's hands, as if the wearer had-

"Gauntlets?!" Nobuyuki turns to face the source of the sound, as Ken turns to face the source and is only slightly annoyed with who he sees.

"So, Chronicler shows himself at long last?" Ken asks, as the figure simply chuckles in a rather condescending tone.

"Ken, didn't you say Chronicler is very short for his age?" Nobuyuki asks, noticing something off with the figure's height, considering he had been told by Ken numerous times of how literally puny Chronicler actually is compared to others.

"Yes, my imposter reincarnation did shrink in size compared to yours truly." The figure says, as he reveals his face from underneath his white cloak as he looks at Ken and Nobuyuki with the same predator eyes Chronicler has; only from here, however, does he show not a single shine of light in them, and how completely feral his gaze is in terms of hostility. Ken steps back as he clearly remembers the last time he saw Chronicler with those eyes.

"C-Chronicler, listen now, we don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble here…" Ken tries to tell Chronicler, only to have to back away as Chronicler walks forward with a smirk on his face as he approaches Ken; the height is noticeably off if this figure is indeed Chronicler, considering he stands the same height as Ken by the time he's close enough to face him in the eyes directly.

"Ken! Be careful this could be a trick!" Nobuyuki tells his boss, as Chronicler simply gives Nobuyuki a glare from aside; Nobuyuki halts in place at the sight of those frenzied eyes of his.

"Oberon, is it? I could've sworn Ultima destroyed your remains into nothing so many eons ago." Chronicler asks of Nobuyuki, as Ken blinks as he slowly looks towards Nobuyuki.

"Are you hiding something, Nobuyuki? I'd like the truth now that I finally notice a pattern here…" Ken says, as Nobuyuki shudders as Ken looks him dead in the eyes from afar.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Really? Do you really expect me to believe that?! Grandis allowed you to live despite all of what I've heard about his history with you in the past, the actual Chronicler wouldn't simply approach you and call you by this Oberon name, nor would you be talking to some kind of bird as if it were sapient!" Ken points out to Nobuyuki, as Chronicler chuckles a bit.

"My my, Oberon; whatever happened to your original form?" Chronicler asks, as he notices Nobuyuki slowly becoming more nervous at this time, but as Nobuyuki quickly realizes this Chronicler isn't very likely to spare him like everyone else had done so far for him, he quickly turns around and flees back into the office building, all the while Chronicler's eyes narrow in a held gaze towards where Nobuyuki had fled into.

"He's a pathetic specimen; both as an immortal prior, and now even more so as a mortal." Chronicler speaks to Ken as Ken looks at Chronicler with a bit of surprise.

"So is it true? Is he indeed hiding something?" Ken asks Chronicler, as Chronicler just chuckles in response, before busting up into a roar of laughter that obscures the sound of something large moving around the rooftops of the area.

"Bitch you don't wanna know how many times he's been a smug snake, just lying about his true nature, towards everyone he meets!" Chronicler tells Ken, as Ken's eyes widen a little, as the tone from which Chronicler speaks is nothing from what he could recognize from the actual Chronicler he had known.

"Y-You! You're hiding something as well, aren't you?!" Ken asks Chronicler, as Chronicler looks at Ken with his feral gaze again; Ken moves to grab his revolver and doesn't even waste time in flat out shooting Chronicler point blank in the chest.

It knocks Chronicler back several feet in distance, but Chronicler is only merely dented by the bullet fired directly at him, as he slowly begins to chuckle, before beginning to get louder, and louder, before busting up mad with laughter.

"Oh so naïve little Kirigaya Ken; you have no idea as to how I, Ryusei Takato, have ascended in power since the crazy carousal incident so many eons ago!" Chronicler says, before twirling his white cloak as he vanishes from the field of view as the entire ground begins to shake, as Ken's eyes widen as he holds his revolver ready to shoot anything hostile that enters his sight.

"Realize, MaterialEye; open up all possible ports and analyze!" Nobuyuki's voice could be heard in an uncharacteristic echo in synchronization with "Chronicler's" voice as well, as a giant ray of light erupts from the office building up into the tallest reaches of the sky itself, forming into a giant sphere of energy as it ends up flying off into the distance to seek out its target.

Ken moves from the ground in his now trembling form, as he hears the footsteps of a heavily built, monkey-like creature entering his field of view with a helmet obscuring its face sans for a single violet eye.

"So it's true? The endgame is upon us in regards to Chronicler's first test of judgment?" Mirror M asks Ken, as Ken looks back at Mirror M in horror, as he tries to point his revolver towards Mirror M as his hands are shaking as to be unable to properly aim at Mirror M, leading him to just lowering his weapon as a result.

"How… How much did Nobuyuki hide from me? How much does he actually know about everything?!" Ken asks the hybrid warrior before him, as Mirror M simply goes from standing on all fours, to standing upright like a human would, as his bio-suit de-materializes his thickly built arm's length armor and weaponry, revealing much smaller arms and hands underneath.

"He knows far more than you could possibly comprehend right now, Ken; even about your metallic legs, but that's nothing more than a minor note at this point." Mirror M tells Ken, as Ken looks at Mirror M as Mirror M approaches Ken with a held gaze; Ken doesn't budge an inch as the towering hybrid warrior approaches him like he does.

"You'll be driving yourself to your daughter's apartment; she needs to be warned about what is going to happen to Chronicler soon if we don't hurry and put a stop to it." Mirror M orders Ken, as Ken simply has his eyes narrow a bit in response as he remains quiet, as Mirror M looks over the office building in response to Ken's silence.

"You all planned to give all of this away to your son in the future, didn't you?" Mirror M asks, as he notices the small downpour beginning to happen at the moment, as Ken looks at Mirror M with a baffled look.

"Excuse me…?"

"You had planned to allow Kazuto to inherit your own fortune by the time you grew too old for this nonsense. Is that what your eyes tell me right now? That you'd much rather have Kazuto handle this situation than have to remotely be involved with us yet again?" Mirror M questions Ken, as Ken closes his eyes as he tilts his head down for nearly a minute, before his eyes open as he looks at Mirror M.

"I have a plan to put an end to this for Nobuyuki and Takato; I just need to know one thing from you, wise Ultimate Form; does the Soul Link truly exist?"


End file.
